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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS."' 



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Shelf............ 

UNITED STATES OE AMERICA. 



TFIE1 



GUIDING STAR, 



FOR- 



THE USE OF ALL PERSONS 



-AS 



Their Guide Through Life 



I!Y SAMUEL EASOX. 



\ 

Springftf-ld, Ohio 

1S85. 



r#i9 






£■■ 




ENTERED ACCORDING TO THE ACT OF CONGRESS, IN THE YEAR 1884, 

BY SAMUEL EASON, 

IN THE OFFICE OF THE LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS, AT 

WASHINGTON, D C. 



CONTENTS 



PAGE.- 

Moral Education 5 

Religious Education n 

Strength in Fellowship 16 

We must have Faith 19 

We shall be like Him 21 

The Beloved Wife 22 

Christian Weakness 24 

The Alarm Clock 27 

Song 28 

True Manhood „ 30 

Little Patty 37 

The Joy of Perfect Love 38 

Waiting 40 

Work 41 

A Source of Evil 43 

We must be in Time 45 

Twenty Years out of Bondage, or The Intellectual March of 

an Emancipated People 46 

Christian Union 59 

A Pithy Sermon to Young Men 63 

The Child's Etiquette 64 

Housekeeping 66 

Self-Indulgeance 68 

Boys Out After Nightfall 69 

Miss Pussy's Sickness 71 

Letters to Girls 72 

True Womanhood 74 

Mother's Good-Bye 81 

Men Wanted 82 

Christianity, the Light of the World 83 

Thought and Character 92 

Young Man, Hold on 94 

What can I do to Save Others? 95 



IV CONTENTS. 



PAGE 
97 



Can You Wait?. 

The Missionary Societies ... 99 

My Own Way 101 

The Church and the Word „ 106 

Scripture Lessons 109 

The Duty of the Husband to the Wife in 

Duty of the Wife to the Husband 113 

The Passion of Love 115 

Hope On 117 

Entering into Married Life 118 

My Broken-Winged Bird 119 

Report of Baptists and Methodists of the United States 120 

Husband and Wife Combined 123 

Close Observations 125 

God is Love 127 

Unfaithful Shepherds 129 

The Silent Influence of Nature and of Man 131 

Granted Wishes 144 

The Day Laborer 145 

Rehoboam 147 

The Little Girls' Prayer Meeting 151 

I Will Never Leave You 153 

Right Living 154 

The Good of Knowledge 155 

Hope 161 

The Bricklayer , 162 

The Helper Helped 165 

Kitchen Garden 168 

What Jamie Said to the Moon 172 

How to Teach Reading 173 

Depths and Heights 175 

Fun With a Spider 177 

Thanksgiving ; ... .: 179 

The Rules of Good Health and How to Promote it 181 

They Stayed on the Farm 189 

Wheat and Field Flowers 196 

A Worker's Song 200 

The Rules and Duties of a Missionary 202 

Conclusion 204 



THE GUIDING STAR. 



MORAL EDUCATION. 



b 



44fHf NE of the greatest of American preachers once said : 
#Blj] " By education, men mean almost exclusively intel- 
Wt/JJ lectual training. For this, schools and colleges are 

'W^ instituted, and to this the moral and religious disci- 
pline of the young is sacrificed. Now I reverence, as much 
as any man, the intellect; but let me never exalt it above 
the moral principle. With this it is most intimately con- 
nected. In this its culture is founded ; and to exalt this is 
its highest aim. Whoever desires that his intellect may 

row up to soundness, to healthy vigor, must begin with 
moral discipline." 

In the above quotation, our sentiment is expressed pre- 
cisely. What is said by this distinguished divine has long 
been held by us. We would not for one moment underate, 
or speak disparagingly of, intellectual education. We prize 
it highly ; and claim that only those who love it, and attain 
unto it to some considerable extent, are on the road to suc- 
cess in life. But we hold that morality is highly essential 
to the man seeking knowledge in general. Morality is the 
foundation stone. All great men have attributed their suc- 
cess in life more to the moral habits acquired in life than to 
anything else. 



6 THE GUIDING STAR. 

" When a man looks into himself, he discovers two dis- 
tinct orders or kinds of principles, which it behooves him 
especially to comprehend. He discovers desires, appetites, 
passions, which terminate in himself, which crave and seek 
his own interest, gratification, and distinction. And he dis- 
covers another principle, an antagonist to these, which is 
impartial, disinterested, universal, enjoining on him a regard 
to the rights and happiness of other beings, and laying on 
him obligations which must be discharged, cost what they 
may, or however they may clash with his particular pleasure 
or gain. No man, however narrowed to his own interest, 
however hardened by selfishness, can deny that there 
springs up within him a great idea in opposition to interest, 
the idea of duty, that an inward voice calls him, more or 
less distinctly, to revere and exercise impartial justice and 
universal good will. This disinterested principle in human 
nature we call sometimes reason, sometimes conscience, 
sometimes the motal sense or faculty. But, be its name 
what it may, it is a real principle in each of us, and it is the 
supreme power within us, to be cultivated above all ot/iers, for 
on its culture the right development of all others depend.'' 

How important it is for parents to impress this grand 
truth upon the hearts of their children to-day. Many child- 
ren, even when they have arrived to the age of mature judg- 
ment, do not seem to understand that in childhood they are 
molding characters, which are to shape their lives, and 
largely determine their future. The duty of their guardians, 
then, is to make a strong effort to make them see this. 
"That childhood is the proper period for education," says 
one, "is one of the most obvious of all general truths. The 
law on which it is founded holds good in all countries, and 
all times. Its range is not limited to human kind. It trav- 
erses the boundaries of the animal kingdom, and determines 



MORAL EDUCATION. 7 

the form of a branch as well as the character of a man. The 
world teems with analogies, both real and obvious, whereby 
the moralist may enforce the duty of educating in the com- 
paratively pliable period of youth. You may, within cer- 
tain limits, determine at will the direction of a river, a tree, 
a man, if you touch them near their sources, where they are 
tiny and tender ; but none of these, when full grown, can 
be bent, except in very minute degrees, and at an expense 
of labor greatly disproportionate to the result." 

I must confess, I am passionately fond of children — good 
children. . In the street, in the Sunday school, on the play- 
ground — whet eve? I fall in with these dear little creatures, I 
can not but love them, and think of the great possibilities 
which lie in their pathway. 

They are the hope of the nation How grand, noble, and 
influential may their lives become ! If trained well morally 
and intellectually, nothing can possibly hinder them from 
becoming noble men and women. Why just think; out of 
that dingy dirty faced group of boys playing yonder, 'are 
probably to come the doctors, ministers, and lawyers of the 
future. 

And yet, on the other hand, these same boys, now so 
cheerful, now so bright in their play, may grow up in ignor- 
ance, and become a set of thieves, drunkards, or even mur- 
derers. What a grave responsibility, therefore, rests upon 
the parents of these little ones. I frequently wonder if they 
consider, as they ought, what is entrusted to their charge. 
It is said "as the twig is bent so the tree is inclined. " How 
true ! As with trees, so with children. The mother 
and father of these children are rapidly passing away. Soon 
they will be gone. Their children are largely to fill their 
places ; and how can they do so creditably and satisfactorily' 



8 THE GUIDING STAR. 

unless they are trained well morally, intellectually, and re- 
ligiously ? 

Moral education should be enforced for several reasons. 
First, because such education is necessary in order to be truly 
successful in life.. This truth needs little to verify itself. 
Every day and in all the walks of life, we see evidence man- 
ifold to prove the very great value of a good moral education. 
Our business men to-day seek for their help those men and 
those only whom they believe have had a tolerably good 
moral training. They, and all others who try to succeed in 
their business, avoid those who show the least sign of a de- 
fective education morally. And in this they are right. No 
man wants in his employ a dishonest person — one who is 
always seeking an opportunity to shove a cent down into his 
own pocket. What the universal world needs to-day above 
all else is honest, straightforward, christian men — men who 
act from principle, and who do right because it is right. 

" There are men who choose honesty as a soul compan- 
ion. They live in it, and with it, and by it. They embody 
it in their actions and lives. Their words speak it. Their 
faces beam it. Their actions proclaim it. Their hands are 
true to it. They love it. It is to them like a God. They 
believe it is of God. With religious awe they obey its be- 
hests. Not gold, or crowns, or fame, could bribe them to 
leave it. They are wedded to it from choice. It is their 
first love. It makes them beautiful men ; yea, more, noble 
men, great, brave, righteous men. When He looks about 
for His jewels, these are the men His eye rests upon, well 
pleased. He keeps his angels employed in making crowns 
for them, and they make crowns for themselves, too. 
Crowns of honesty ! To some men they seem not very 
beautiful in the dim light of earth ; but when the radiance 
of heaven is opened upon them, they will reflect it in gor- 



MORAL EDUCATION. 9 

geous splendor. Nothing is brighter ; nothing is better ; 
nothing is worth more, or more substantial. Honesty, 
peerless queen of principles ! How her smile enhaloes the 
men who love her ! How ready they are to suffer for her, 
to die for her. They are the martyrs. See them. What 
a multitude ! Some at the stake, some in stocks, some in 
prison ; some before judges as criminals, some on gibbets, 
and some on the cross. They have peace within. They 
are strong and brave in heart. Their souls are dauntless as 
the bright, old sun." 

Second. Such an education in morality is necessary in ordet 
to wea? well in society. 

It will be admitted by every fair minded and rational 
being, that no man who is without good morals can be 
welcomed and entertained in good society. As the busi- 
ness man shuns the dishonest and immoral man, so does 
society. An immoral man, a man who has never been 
properly trained in morality, is a dangerous element in any 
society or community. Without such training he "is under 
eternal quarentine ; no friend to greet ; no home to harbor 
him. The voyage of his life becomes a joyless peril ; and 
in the midst of all ambition can achieve, or avarice . amass, 
or rapacity plunder, he tosses on the surge, a buoyant pesti- 
lence. 

It is a trite, but true maxim, that li a man is known by 
the company he keeps." If a man is a good, moral, up- 
right man, he will associate with such men. If he is a bad 
man, he will not content himself in the company of good 
men. He will seek his own, and there will he remain. 
"Better be alone than in bad company." " Evil communi- 
cations corrupt good manners." " All qualities are catch- 
ing as well as diseases ; and the mind is at least as much, if 



10 THE GUIDING STAR. 

not a great deal more, liable to infection „than the body. 
Go with mean people, and you think life is mean." 

Let then, these great truths be impressed upon the minds 
of the young by their parents. Teach them the importance 
of being well trained morally. Talk to them plainly con- 
cerning these things, so that when they arrive at the age of 
maturity, they may see for themselves the infinite value of 
morality. Parents, see to it that your children have the 
proper training. Keep them always in the best company, 
and they will hardly go wrong. The sad consequences of 
evil associations is exhibited in the history of almost all 
criminals. The case of a man, recently hanged in Canada, 
is an example. On the gallows, he made the following 
speech to those in attendance : ' 'This is a solemn day for me, 
boys. I hope this will be a warning to you against bad 
company. I hope it will be a lesson to all young people, 
and old as well as young, rich and poor. It was that that 
brought me here to-day to my last end, though I am inno- 
cent of the murder I am about to suffer for. Before my 
God I am innocent of the murder ! I never committed this 
or any other murder. I am going to meet my maker in a 
few minutes. May the Lord have mercy on my soul. 
Amen, amen." What a terrible warning is this to the 
young. Let them never deviate from the right. Let par- 
ents and guardians instruct them well in morality. Let 
them see that their children are trained in the way they 
should go, knowing and believing that when they become 
old they will not depart from it. 



RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 



nfv-V^.^E should be educated religiously. Wedo not 
-: -i ■/ \ /£ mean by this that it is possible for a person to be 
fj l ft | j so trained, so educated in religious and holy 
tT"^>-o~j su bjects, doctrines, &c, as that his knowledge 
in these things shall save him. Not at all. We believe 
emphatically in the truth uttered by our Lord while here 
in the flesh that "ye must be born again." All knowledge 
is to be encouraged and cultivated that man may rise to 
his true dignity; but "to pursue other branches to the 
neglect of the only two which are of universal importance — 
the knowledge of God, and of our own soul — is surely to 
be wisely, foolish and ignorantiy learned. There are homes 
where religion is ignored. There is no worship of God 
there, neither is there any right religious training of the 
young. God is practically dethroned, and it is possible 
that what is called education may be completed, and yet 
no religion taught. Nay, men professing to be wise, 
have risen up to argue that religion should not be taught 
at all — it should be left, they say, to the unbiassed mind 
of youth to select the form or the creed which seems best, 
when entering upon life. Some of these men are called 
philosophers, not a"few T of them hold the rank of lawgivers, 
and their plan is practically this : ' Educate for earth, let 
heaven alone ; educate for man, leave God out -of view ; 
educate for time, eternity will be considered anon.' " 



12 THE GUIDING STAR. 

No, this is a wrong idea. This is a mistake. It will 
never, do to be so very particular about making preparation 
for their life, and do nothing to insure happiness in the next. 
We are bidden in the sacred word of truth to train up our 
children in the way they should go, and when they become 
old they will not depart from it. But how few do this ! 
They (the children) have only a partial training — a training 
that fits them for the duties and pleasures of earth alone. 
*'■ Creation is studied, the Creator is neglected. Laws are 
examined, the Law-giver is unheeded. Even parents con- 
nive at and encourage such views, and since they choose to 
train their children in ignorance of a Father who is in 
Heaven, or of the worship which is his due, would it be 
wonderful though such children grew up despising the 
parents who had trained them so ? If more pains be taken 
to teach our children the length of a Greek syllable, some 
one has said, than the knowledge of God, and of themselves, 
what wonder though ungodliness prevail? What would 
be the effect were the sun swept from his place among the 
stars ? Chaos to oar globe once more, and, in like manner, 
when religion is omitted in training a moral being, a moral 
chaos must ensue." The home is the place for the 
religious training of children. If "the church is a fam- 
ily,"' it is conversely true that a family should be a church. 
The well-being and future happiness of every household de- 
pends very largely upon the proper religious training of 
the young. Some one has wisely said, " Heaven is nearer 
to us in infancy than ever after." 

If this be so, the utmost care should be taken in the train- 
ing of infant minds while thus young, while their minds and 
hearts are so susceptible to religious truth. 

Several reasons may here be given to show why children 
should have early religious training. 



RELIGIOUS EDLCATION. 13 

First. That they may understand and know the great 
end of life. 

Many there are in this world who have yet to learn that 
the aim of their lives should be to glorify God, their Maker. 
Pleasures, wealth, honor, and happiness should not be made, 
as they frequently are, the chief objects of life. We were 
made to honor and glorify our Maker, and unless the child- 
ren are early trained religiously, they are very apt to grow 
up in life with but very little desire to inquire after and 
please God. "Wisdom and affection combine to teach us 
that in youth — in youth above all other periods — should 
truth be lodged in the mind, and tended there by the hand 
of parental wisdom — like southern exotics from northern 
skies. Even then, no doubt, truth may make no more im- 
pression on the mind than an image produces on the mirror 
which reflects it ; yet, while parents act in faith and hope, 
it would be at once unwise and cruel to withhold that might- 
iest of all influences, the truth, which the Spirit blesses to 
mold the soul, or give happiness instead of misery, and life 
instead of death. 

Scripture is so full of the home feeling, or family religion, 
that we violate all its teaching if the love of God be not par- 
amount, and the fear of the Lord the beginning of wisdom 
to our children. The christian mother especially can deeply 
plant and genially cherish the seeds of truth. Is her child 
sick ? That is a text from which to speak of the Great 
Physician. Is it the sober calm of evening, when even 
children grow sedate? She can tell of the home where 
there is no night. It is morning when all are buoyantly 
happy ? The eternal *day is suggested, and its glories may 
be told. That is the wisdom which wins souls even more 
than the formal lesson, the lecture or the task." 

Second. Children should receive an early religious train- 



14 THE GUIDING STAR. 

ing in order that they may walk into the same religious 
path, and grow up in the same church of their parents. 

This is a very important matter, and parents know it, 
and believe it. Nothing preys upon the minds of parents 
more than this subject. They desire above all else that 
their children grow up in the church of which they are mem- 
bers, and that those children perform the duties which they 
duinrg life time, were permitted only to execute in part. 
Their mantle they wish to fall upon their children. 

How few seem to think upon this subject as they should ! 
If more attention were given it on the part of parents and 
guardians, a vast amount of good would be done in the 
world, an incalculable influence for good would be exerted 
upon men even after many who are now entrusted with the 
training of youth have fallen into the tomb. *It requires no 
effort on the part of the dullest person living to see that this 
is so, for it is manifest that, provided the children are prop- 
erly taught in the church and religion of their parents, that 
they will grow up in said church, and faith to carry forward 
the works which their fathers were allowed to commence 
but not spared to finish. 

"Science has sometimes tried to teach us that if a pebble 
be cast into the sea on any shore, the effects are felt, though 
not perceived by man, over the whole area of the ocean. 
Or, more wonderful still, science has tried to show that the 
effects of all the sounds ever uttered by man or beast, or 
caused by inanimate things, are still floating in the air ; its 
present state is just the aggregate result of all these sounds ; 
and if these things be true they furnish an emblem of the 
effects produced by a mother's power— effects which stretch 
into eternity, and operate there forever, in sorrow or in joy. 
The mother is the angel — spirit of home. 

Her tender yearnings over the cradle of her infant babe, 



RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. 15 

her guardian care of the child and youth, and her bosorri 
companionship with the man of her love and choice, make 
her the personal center of the interests, the hopes and the 
happiness of the family. Her love glows in her sympa- 
thies, and reigns in all her thoughts and deeds. It never 
cools, never tires, never dreads, never sleeps, but ever glows 
and burns with increasing ardor, and with sweet and holy 
incense upon the altar of home devotion. Such is the in- 
fluence of a parent, a mother ; such the influence that may 
be exerted by those wishing and striving to give their 
offspring a moral and religious education." 




STRENGTH IN FELLOWSHIP. 




fPHE world in all its myriad employments and affairs, 
wants strength. Strong individuals are always at a 
premium. Strength is recognized as a prime quality 

^F in manhood and womanhood. A sound mind in 
a sound body has ever stood as the human ideal. But 
there can be no truly sound mind, in God's test of soundness, 
that has not Christ in it. This is a vital fact. Christ is for 
the Christian the source of all true strength and soundness. 
This strength is not found in self-conceit, but in self-conse- 
cration ; not in self-seeking, but in self-surrender. For the 
Christian to be strong is not to be self-centered, but Christ- 
centered. When the highest human love and longing lay 
hold on the 1 divine sympathy and help, the result is strength 
of character, of purpose, and of will ; and this kind of Chris- 
tians it is that the world sorely needs— Christians strong in 
faith, in hope, in humility, in patience, in love, in gentle- 
ness, in service — Christians who commend Christianity 
eveywhere by their practical living of it. 

The place where this Christian strength is fostered and 
made felt is in the church of Christ. The old question is 
ever to be met, "Can not I be a Christian and live a 
Christian life without joining the church?" Perhaps, in 
God's grace, you can, but the chances are all against you, 
and you can not be an obedient follower and do it. On the 
other hand the church is the Christian league. Its members 
are banded together, for what ? To insure greater strength 
for service, more perfect protection against the common 



STRENGTH IN FELLOWSHIP. 17 

enemy, sin, and enlarged efficiency in the winning of souls. 
Pre-eminently the purpose is to be mutually helpful, to re- 
alize in practice the divine command, ** Bear ye one an- 
other's burdens." To share in sympathy and love, which 
is to help bear; to strengthen each where each is weak, and 
thus all become stronger together and thus to seek to bring 
those who are outside within this mutually helpful circle — 
this is what the church is for. And the church is strong and 
helpful above every other organization, because in it not only 
is each true member bound to every other, but each is 
bound to the great Head of the church, Christ. 

This being true, then, that the church is God's chosen 
means to strengthen his people individually, and God's 
chosen instrument through which to extend the saving 
knowledge of Christ by the efforts of his people working 
unitedly, it follows that the only proper and right and safe 
place, and certainly the only strengthening place for every 
Christian convert is in the church. No halfway halting 
ground of desirable or durable character has been discov- 
ered, because it did not exist. The convert needs the 
church, and the church needs the convert that both may 
stand strong. If a converted soul feels that he has any 
claims on the Saviour, Christ, in just that proportion Christ's 
church has claims on such a soul. If a man belongs in 
spirit to the Lord's host and means to fight on the Lord's 
side, he will only endanger himself and confuse others by 
skirmishing independently in the citizen's clothes of worldli- 
ness. The only square and manly, as well as obedient 
thing to do is to put on the Christian uniform and armor 
and take place in the church ranks, if one really means to 
fight the good fight and keep the faith. 

And why, in any possible ground of reason, stay outside ? 
To love Christ truly is to do his will, not in this or that, 



18 THE GUIDING STAR. 

but in all. The way of duty is too plain to be mistaken : 
Repent and be converted, believe and be baptised. Here 
are the three steps leading up to Christ's church and the 
entrance door of baptism. Why should any soul stand in 
the cold on the steps, exposed to the cutting blasts of 
worldliness, shivering midway between the gates of hell and 
heaven, when the door is open into the light and warmth, 
and sympathy, into the strength-giving atmosphere of the 
Christian's spiritual home — the church? 

Duty urges from behind ; Christ invites from within. 
Do not linger in that worst of all places — the quagmire of a 
half-obedience. Get on the bed-rock of the church, the 
church of the living God, which is the pillar and foundation 
of the truth. 




WE MUST HAVE FAITH. 



jjJPN my citation of Wesleyan theological authorities prov- 
ing that there is a special gift of faith which is not sav- 
ing, I find that I have omitted some very weighty ones. 
°^ Matthew 17:20, he says, "This faith is usually called by 
divines, the faith of miracles ;" and has been said to be a 
supernatural persuasion given to a man, that God will effect 
some supernatural work by him in that very moment. In 
the present age, so far removed from those times when those 
supernatural gifts were imparted, the subject is necessarily 
obscure, and was, perhaps, left without farther explanation 
because of the temporary duration of miraculous powers. 
That a faith without charity might exist which should re- 
move mountains, that is, effect things really impossible to 
mere human power, and which, therefore, commanded an 
adequate exertion of the Divine energy to produce the re- 
sult, we learn from St. Paul who appears to have had this 
text in his thoughts from his reference to removing moun- 
tains. But this faith, though it might not be saving to the 
individual differed from saving faith only as it was directed 
to a different object. Faith is saving when it is the trust of 
a heart broken and contrite on account of sin, in the great 
atonement, which is the only object of saving faith ; so the 
faith by which miracles were wrought by the disciples of 
Christ, was 4 also trust or reliance, but its object was the 
name or power of Christ, and this, undoubtedly, some per- 
sons appear to have possessed who had not the faith which 
placed them in the state of salvation, It is thus that the 



20 THE GUIDING STAR. 

distinction may be clearly made between the faith which 
saves and the faith which wrought miracles." Tihs quota, 
tion confirms my distinction between the gift of faith and 
the grace of faith. Mr. Watson assumes that no man can 
prove, that the age of miracles is past. 

Our next citation is from J. Benson's note on Matthew 
17:20, "It is certain that the faith here spoken of may sub- 
sist without saving faith : Judas had it, and so had many, 
who thereby cast out devils, and yet will, at last, have their 
portion with them. It is only a supernatural persuasion 
given a man, that God will work by him in an extraordinary 
and supernatural way at that hour. 5 ' 




WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM." 



W^^^jpE shall be like Him, oh, beautiful thought! 
^IWI|Ife Well may our souls with rapture be wrought, 
?J JIB Iff After the sorrows, the woe and the tears, 
'U^>^i \y e shall be like Him when Jesus appears. 

After the conflict in peace to sit down, 
After the cross to be wreathed with the crown, 
After the dust and the soil of the way, 
With Him and like Him for ever to stay, 

Never again shall the throbbing head ache, 
Never again shall the beating heart break, 
Never the task drop from wearying hands, 
Nor the feet ever fail in the brightest of lands. 

Never shall sin with the trail of its shame 
Shadow love's sunlight, nor chill its clear flame ; 
Saviour, oft grieved in the house of thy friends, 
Ne'er will we wound thee when earth's frail life ends. 

Death ! 'tis thought does away with thy sting, 
Makes us triumphant to meet thee and sing, 
" Glory to God." When the Jordan is passed 
We shall go home and be like him at last. 

Master alas, thee we've often denied ! 

When the world scorned we have shrunk from thy side. 

Yet, blessed Jesus, thou knowest thy love, 

Pardon and help *us with grace from above. 

When thou appearest, oh, rapturest thought ! 
Well may our souls into rapture be wrought, 
We shall be like thee when this life is o'er, 
Wound thee, deny thee, offend thee no more. 
3 



THE BELOVED WIFE. 




ipi§NLY let a woman be sure that she is precious to her 
t)?\rl husband — not useful, not valuable, not convenient, 
simply, but lovely and beloved ; let her be the re- 
cipient of his polite and hearty attentions ; let her 
feel that her care and love are noticed, appreciated and re- 
turned ; let her opinion be asked, her approval sought, and 
her judgment respected in matters of which she is cognizant ; 
in short, let her only be loved, honored, and cherished in 
fulfillment of the marriage vow, and she will be to her hus- 
band, and her children, and society, a well-spring of pleas- 
ure. She will bear pain, and toil, and anxiety ; for hef 
husband's love is to her as a tower and a fortress. Shielded 
and sheltered therein, adversity will have lost its sting. 
She may suffer, but sympathy may dull the edge of her sor- 
row. A house with love in it^-and by love I mean love ex- 
pressed in words, and looks and deeds, for I have not one 
spark of faith in the love that never crops out — is to a house 
without love as a person to a machine ; the one life, the 
other mechanism. 

The unloved woman may have bread just as light, a house 
just as tidy as the other, but the latter has a spring of beauty 
about her, a joyousness, an aggressive, and penetrating, 
and pervading brightness, to which the former is a stranger. 
The deep happiness in her heart shines out in her face. 
She is a ray of sunlight in the house. She gleams all over 
it. It is airy, and gay, and graceful and warm, and wel- 
coming with her presence. She is full of devices and plots, 
and sweet surprises for her husband and family. She has 



THE BELOVED WIFE. 



23 



never done with the romance and poetry of life. She is her- 
self a lyric poem, setting herself to all pure and gracious 
melodies. Humble household ways and duties have for her 
a golden significance. The prize makes the calling higher, 
and the end dignifies the means. Her home is a paradise, 
not sinless, not painless, but still a paradise; for "love is 
heaven, and heaven is love." 




CHRISTIAN WEAKNESSES. 




ilfHERE are many ways in which to determine the 

f 

strength of Christian people. When we are brought 



in contact with the great works of charity and be- 
nevolence we say those people show their faith by 
their works. When we see an active, zealous, working 
congregation we are impressed with the thought that in 
union there is strength. We can estimate the comparative 
power of every congregation by the amount of work they 
do, and the spirit in which they do it. 

We can in the same way, determine the weakness of 
Christian churches. There are visible evidences of weak- 
ness, and these show themselves in laziness and tardiness, 
and general indifference. It matters little or nothing what 
vital subject may claim the pastor's attention during the 
week when he is making preparation for the Sabbath servi- 
ces, when Sunday comes many can find an excuse to remain 
away. The pastor instead of preaching to a good congre- 
gation must be satisfied with what he has, and yet dare not 
in the least show a lack of earnestness in his preaching. He 
must be the same man as if every member of the church 
were present, and if he is not, soon some one will say he is 
losing his interest in his work. Here is manifested a Christ- 
ian weakness. Here is shown how little sympathy the ser- 
vant of the Lord has. Here is evinced a coldness and in- 
difference which naturally weakens and enervates the min 
ister. This Christian weakness of a lack of sympathy for 
the minister is not always intentional but thoughtlessness. 



CHRISTIAN WEAKNESSES. 25 

People little think of his heart-aches, but they expect him 
to think of theirs. They little appreciate his devotion to 
their cause, not that they doubt it, but are so because of 
a want of interest in his work. That is a weak Christian 
who lives without sympathy for his pastor. Again, another 
Christian weakness is that of shifting responsibility of work. 
All faithful Christians wish to see the work of the Lord 
prosper. But all are not faithful in this. While they wish 
to be in nominal relation with the church they want others 
to bear all responsibility of prosperity or failure. They 
shift every lack of interest on others, and ease themselves 
that those at the head of the church must bear the blame 
for this or that. This is childish in the extreme and shows 
a wrong spirit. This spirit predominates largely among 
Christian people, in which few are made responsible for 
everything. This might all be well enough if these shifters 
would then be satisfied with what is done. But let a little 
assessment be made for some purpose and how soon they 
arise to assert their authority. Let a little discipline be en- 
forced by pastor and consistory and how ready they are to 
complain. They are unwilling to bear even part of the bur- 
den. Those Christians who shift responsibility should not 
be granted the right to vote in any of the ecclesiastical bod- 
ies until they possess charity enough to sympathize with 
others and grace enough to bear their part in Christian 
work. Another element of Christian weakness is laziness. 
This pervades the whole man and unfits him for any Christ- 
ian work. He is satisfied if things are only half managed. 
He is contented with no preaching or poor preaching or 
anything that will not arouse him to activity. All he wants 
is to be let alone. He is a good sleeper for the church with 
one exception, instead of being under the floor to support 
it, he is on top to weigh it down. He is satisfied if there 
is no Sunday school, prayer-meeting, or anything else. It 



26 THE GUIDING STAR. 

matters little to him whether the pastor has a congregation 
on Sabbath or not, and much less does he care whether the 
pastor is paid or not. He sleeps just as soundly with five 
hundred dollars of a debt to the pastor, as if it were but a 
cent. He is just as well satisfied if the pastor pays his own 
way to all ecclesiastical meetings as if it were paid by the 
church. Sleeps just as well without paying a cent to mis- 
sions as if he gave a hundred dollars. Is just as well pleased 
to see strangers 'come to church and leave again without 
being noticed and invited back as if the contrary. Would 
just as soon come in time to hear the benediction as the in- 
vocation. He is just as happy if the church is locked up 
half the time as not, because it gives occasion to visit. 
These are some of trie weaknesses of the Christian life. 
We would refer to more if space would permit. May it 
suffice however to awaken some to duty. 




THE ALARM CLOCK. 




N alarm-clock not only tells the time of day, but it can 
also awaken people in the morning. Such a clock 
in my chamber set up every morning about five 
o'clock such a whizzing, and ringing that it waked 
me up. " What a nice way to be roused up 1 " some will 
say. Yes it is a very good wiy, if I always get up when it 
wakes me. " Why ? how strange ! " you will say. Yet it is 
true ; my alarm does not wake me any longer, because I 
did not at once get out of bed on two or three mornings. 

I have often thought that my alarm clock is very like one's 
conscience. Every person who knows God's will has such 
a clock in his own breast ; so that when he is going to do 
wrong, it gives an alarm, saying, ''That is not right; you 
must not do that; God sees you." 

But we must hear conscience when it speaks. If we stop 
when it says, "stop, " if we do what it tells us to do, then we 
shall always hear it. But if we get into the habit of not 
doing what it tells us, after a while we shall not hear it at 
all : our conscience will become hardened, and we shall be 
ready to commit any sin, however great. 

In the town in which I formally lived, there was a boy 
put into jail for breaking into a shop at night, and stealing 
money. This boy once went to a Sabbath school, and had 
as faithful a conscience, perhaps, as any boy who reads this 
page. But he commenced doing wrong in little things. 
His conscience used to say to him, " Robert, that is wrong; 
you ought not to do that." But he did not obey the warn- 
ing voice. He went on from bad to worse, until, as I said, 
he was sent to jail for stealing money. 

Remember when your conscience tells you to do anything, 
do it ; and whenever it tells you to stop, stop. 



SONG. 



pAm a poor wayfaring stranger 

While journeying through this world of woe, 
But there's no sickness, toil nor danger 
*& In that bright world to which I go. 
I am going there to see my father ; 

I am going there no more to roam ; 
I am just a-going over Jordan ; 
I am just a-going over home. 

I know dark clouds will gather o'er me, 

I know my way is dark and steep ; 
But Canaan's field lies just before me, 

Where God's redeemed their vigils keep. 
I am going there to see my mother, 

She said she'd meet me when I come ; 
I am just a-going over Jordan ; 

I am just a-going over home. 

I feel my sins are all forgiven, 

My hopes are placed on things above ; 
I am going away to yon bright Heaven, 

Where all is joy, and peace, and love. 
I am going there to see my class-mates, 

That's gone before me, one by one, 
I'm just a-going over Jordan, 

I'm just a-going over home. 



SONG. 29 

I want to wear a crown of glory, 

In concert with that blood-washed band, 
I want to sing salvation's stories, 

When I get home to that bright land ; 
I'm going there to meet my children, 

I know they're sitting near God's throne, 
I'm just a-going over Jordan, 

I'm just a-going over home. 




TRUE MANHOOD. 




ORD Chesterfield once wrote : "A man who does 
not solidly establish, and really deserve a character 
for truth, probity, good manners, and good morals, 
at his first setting out in the world, may impose and 
shine like a meteor for a very short time, but will soon van- 
ish and be extinguished with contempt" 

How strikingly true ! Nothing to-day is needed, we 
think, more than an exhibition on the part of people gen- 
erally of those habits and traits of character which go to 
make up true manhood and womanhood. Not a few who 
are living in this age of the world are sadly lacking in these 
traits. They have, and exhibit, a part of those things which 
go largely toward constituting manhood and womanhood ; 
but they seem to be deficient in many things. 

What is true manhood ? Perhaps we can give no better 
definition than that given by another concerning the true gen- 
tleman. He says : ' 'The very term 'gentleman* has a flavor 
that indicates a fineness of nature as far removed from effemi- 
nacy on the one hand as from coarseness and brutality on the 
other. The ideal gentleman is a clean man, body and soul. 
He acts kindly out of the impulses of a kindly heart. He is 
brave because with a conscience void of offense, he has noth- 
ing to fear. He is never embarrassed, for he respects him- 
self, and is profoundly conscious of right intentions. To 
preserve his self-respect, he keeps his honor unstained ; and 
to retain the good opinion of others, he neglects no civility. 
He respects even the prejudices of honest men ; opposes 
without bitterness, and yields without admitting defeat. He 



TRUE MANHOOD. 31 

is never arrogant, and never weak. He bears himself with 
dignity, but never haughtily. Too wise to despise trifles, 
he is too noble to be mastered by them. To superiors he 
is respectful without servility; to equals courteous; to in- 
feriors so kind that they forget their inferiority. He car- 
ries himself with grace in all places, is easy, but never famil- 
iar, genteel without affectation. His quick perceptions tell 
him what to do under all circumstances, and he approaches 
a king with as much grace as he would display in addressing a 
beggar. He unites gentleness of manner with firmness of 
mind ; commands with mild authority, and asks favors with 
persistent grace and assurance. Always well informed and 
observant of events, but never pedantic, ' he wins his way 
to the head through the heart, by the shortest route, and 
keeps good opinions once won, because he deserves them." 

This, it is true, is a somewhat long quotation ; but it so 
well describes the traits and characteristics of what we term 
true manhood, that we could not forbear the .temptation of 
copying it in toto. 

True manhood always shows itself. It can not be hidden 
in those possessing it. Many to : day claim to be in the 
possession of true manhood who are really not. They have 
a few characteristics of manhood, perhaps, but unless they 
have them all, it is clearly seen that they can not justly 
make this claim. What are the traits or characteristics of 
true manhood? How shall we determine who have true 
manhood, and who have something else ? 

First, it seems to us that the person making a claim to 
true manhood will at all times and under all circumstances, 
be a gt ntleman. 

By this we mean a good deal. He must be a gentleman 
in the highest and most exalted sense. He must not only 
act a gentleman, but must be one. "It may be a sham and 
pretense — hypocrisy expressing what is not felt — but it is a 



32 THE GUIDING STAR. 

good deal better to make it real, and then one is polite be- 
cause impelled to be so by the warm, generous, kindly feel- 
ings that are within, and long to get out. Shams are dan- 
gerous things to deal with. It is easier to be a gentleman 
or lady, than to appear to be one when you are not. The 
best foundation for good manners is a real, loyal, gentle, 
kindly, turthful character, and that is within the reach of 
every boy and girl, rich or poor, handsome or plain, strong 
or weak, trained or untrained." A true gentleman will 
always be recognized by his manners, his politeness, and 
his obliging habits. He will be known because he respects 
the rights and feelings of others, and is always agreeable in 
the society he enters. ' ' Many a man owes his fortune or 
his honors to his fine address. A man's success in life is 
proportioned to the number of people to whom he is agree- 
able. He who has the most friends, and the fewest ene- 
mies is the strongest, and will rise the highest. A genial 
manner disarms envy, and aid comes to its possessor from a 
thousand unexpected sources. Unconsciously, and by the 
force of habit, he has enlisted a host of sworn allies, who 
help him fulfill his ambitions. Men seek those with whom 
they can be at ease, and whose manners do not offend. 
The young man who starts out in his career with pleasing 
address is master of fortune without wealth or genius. He 
is sought after and invited to enter in and possess. All 
avenues to wealth and power are easily open to him, and 
the prizes of his life are laid at his feet." 

Thus is it seen how essential it is for one claiming true 
manhood to be a gentleman. 

Second. True manhood also implies that the person lay- 
ing any claim thereto be in the possession of good physicial 
strength. 

Too much stress can not be laid upon this part of our 



TRUE MANHOOD. 33 

theme. When the sacred writer wrote, ' ' Show thyself a 
man," he meant a good deal. He did not, we think, con- 
fine himself to the thought alone that we should show our- 
selves men so far as morals and manners are concerned, but 
also in physicial strength. What the world needs to-day is 
men — men, not only possessing learning and experience, 
but also muscle and nerve. The day is not far distant when 
most men will have these great blessings in a very large 
degree. They will see ere long that they can not well suc- 
ceed without them. They will see the necessity of having 
" mens sana in cot pore sano," — a sound mind in a sound 
body. Already, this subject is engaging the attention of 
our most successful educators and teachers. They begin to 
see the vast importance of educating the body in conjunc- 
tion with the mind. The early Spartans (and in fact, al- 
most all the ancients) saw the great necessity of giving their 
youth a good education in this respect. 

The Spartans educated their young men in a stern and 
severe drill, commencing in infancy ; and, as a result, their 
bodies were made elastic, vigorous, and strong. Not long 
since, I heard a gentleman who was in poor health remark, 
that if he could only regain his health, and have the same 
strong body he had once, he would be willing to endure all 
the ills of life. Evidently, this gentleman knew the value 
of a good, strong body and constitution. He knew that so 
long as the body was weak and frail, the mind must to a 
great extent be impaired. " What single instance can do 
more to arrest the deterioration of our times, than connec- 
ting with our educational institutions some regular system 
of exercise ? The Gymnasia of Germany, within the last 
few years, have been doing a great work for that part of 
Europe ; and if, in the United States, in every school, from 
the primary to the college, and university, calisthenic and 
gymnastic exercises were made indispensable, and if in every 



34 THE GUIDING STAR. 

city gymnasia should be established at the public expense, 
for clerks and others who lead an. indoor life, what an im- 
proved aspect would the coming generation exhibit ! The 
exercise of walking, riding on horseback, cricket, ten-pins, 
skating and boat rowing, are all of value. " We are inclined 
to believe that in our haste and rush in the business of every 
day life, we too frequently forget that in order to have and re- 
tain true manhood, it is necessary, and very important for us 
to take a certain amount of exercise. How often does it prove 
to be a fact that all the real out door exercise a large num- 
ber of us get is that we have in walking from the home to 
the place of business ! Sometimes there are those who do 
not even get this exercise ; for they ride to and from their 
homes. And yet, these self-same parties complain and 
grumble because they do not enjoy the health that others 
do who are good examples of true manhood. 

Never need we expect to have sound, tenacious, and re- 
tentive minds, until we have as their abiding places good, 
strong, vigorous bodies. Then, and not until then, shall we 
be able to say we have true manhood. 

Three. True manhood also implies that the person laying 
any claim thereto will be a man of temperate habits. 

No one can have true manhood who is not temperate. 
If he is anything else but a man of temperate habits, he 
shows very clearly that his manhood is not sufficient to hold 
him within certain bounds. Oh, how many there are, who, 
if our conclusions are right and logical, are lacking in true 
manhood ! Thousands there are in this country, and mill- 
ions throughout the world, who are pursuing an intemper- 
ate course and showing to the world that they are sadly 
lacking in true manhood. When we read the statistics and 
see what a powerful sway intemperance has even in proud 
and fair America, with her intelligence and wealth, her 
prosperity and greatness, we are amazed and caused to trem- 



TRUE MANHOOD. 35 

ble for the safety of a grand republic. Think of the many 
hundreds of breweries in this country where a business is 
carried on which causes the destruction not only of all true 
manhood, but of the man himself! How many homes are 
darkened and made sad thereby ! The evil resulting from 
intemperance is incalculable. 

The story, the sad, sad story, can never be told this side 
of the grave. God speed the day when such a great evil 
shall no longer curse our country and the world. Then 
will this be a happy place. Earth will be a paradise, and 
the name of God will be written upon all things ; and both 
man and nature will unite their voices and praise him from 
whom all blessings flow. 

Fourth. But we must not fail to declare that true man- 
hood'also implies that a man laying any claim thereto must 
be a christian. 

Although we make this the last qualification or character- 
istic, it is by no means the least. A gentleman (adhering 
to the strict meaning of the word) is a christian; and a 
christian is a gentleman. Until a man's heart has been 
changed, until he has had the blood of the Lord Jesus 
Christ applied to his soul, and felt that in very truth, 
"God is love," he still lacks some of the characteristics 
of a gentleman. He still lacks that which gives to man- 
hood its power. 

A good description of a true gentleman is given by Saint 
Paul. He seems to have believed a true gentleman must 
necessarily be a christian. Says he : " Whatsoever things 
are true, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are 
lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any 
virtue, and if there beany praise, think on these things." 

Dr. Isaac Barlow, in one of his sermons, says : The 
true gentleman "should labor and study to be a leader unto 
virtue, and a notable promoter thereof ; directing and ex- 



36 



THE GUIDING STAR. 



citing men thereto by his exemplary conversation, encoura- 
ing them by his countenance and authority." 

How true, the above ! Well may we all covet such vir- 
tues. Having these with a few others, however, we may 
hope at no distant day to attain true manhood. 




LITTLE PATTY. 




ROSS little Patty sat under a tree, 
,-fe- As fretful as ever a child could be. 

Keep still ! " to a singing bird, she said ; 
"You are out of tune and you hurt my head." 

" Do stop ! " she cried, to a dancing brook, 
A lamb and a pussy cat came to look 

At cross little Patty beneath the tree, 
As fretful as ever a child could be. 

The Pussy cat wondered to see her pout, 
And the frisky lambkin skipped about ; 

But the brook tripped on over stones and moss, 
And never found out that Patty was cross. 

The bird in the tree-top sang away, 

And these were the words she meant to say : 

" You poor little girl, why can't you see 

That there's nothing at all the matter with me ? 

Mend your manners, my dearie, soon, 

Or you'll find the whole world out of tune." 

Somehow the wind in the leafly tree, 
And the rippling water so wild and free, 

The bird on the bough, and the snow-white lamb, 
And the gentle pussy so mild and calm, 

Made Patty ashamed of her naughty mood; 
She shook herself well, and said, "I'll be good." 

And presto ! the Patty beneath the tree 
Was just as sweet as a child could be. 
4 



THE JOY OF PERFECT LOVE. 




'HEN love is the master-passion of the soul duty 
rises to delight — "we lose the duty in the joy." 
'JlI^IM Duty ls there, stern as ever. It must be. But 
L ^^ ** when the heart is " dead to sin," and perfect love 
is enthroned, that which would otherwise be a burden or a 
task becomes a pleasure. The mother owes many a duty 
to the child of her bosom, and the little one by its very help- 
lessness appeals for their performance. Yet the mother 
never hears the stern demand of duty. Her warm heart 
beats to the sweet melodies of a quenchless affection. She 
never thinks of duty while yet she is discharging it. And 
so with obedience to a heart that perfectly loves God. Nay, 
the Saviour has in infinite condescension used earthly rela 
tionships to teach and illustrate divine truths. And we find 
him calling the church his "bride." What does it mean? 
On his side it means that he "loved the Church, and gave 
himself for it;" that he loved human souls enough to die for 
each, a whole Christ for every sinner. But surely, on the 
brides part, it implies the perfect love that loves too much 
to serve from duty. Can it mean less ? In every age and 
clime the bride and bridegroom have been the emblems of 
highest choice, deepest attachment, perfect love. And the 
moment that affection declines to mere duty the union is 
broken. It has given up its very life. The outward bond 
that still exists is but a name, a flower without scent, a cloud 
without rain, a well without water, a day without brightness. 



THE JOY OF PERFECT LOVE. 39 

If the church is the bride of Christ, perfect love should be 
her very life. 

Yes, to periect love obedience is joy. And it is a thou- 
sand-fold more exalted and' Christ-like to have the whole 
stream of affection running toward God and obedience, than 
to have to fight an " enemy within," in order to be able to 
keep a clear conscience. Better to pray because I delight 
to, than because I must ! And more beautiful to "work 
the v/orks " which God has given me to fulfill, because the 
" love of Christ constraineth," than to have the task ele- 
ment as an unlovely feature in one's religious life, through 
not possessing perfect love. 




WAITING. 



said, "When will the summer come ? 
• 'Mamma is it not late ? " 
[ She smiled, and answered, " By and by ; 
^ Be patient, child, and wait." 

I asked papa if he would buy 

A new wax doll for me. 
He pinched my cheek, and said, "Not now ; 

Be patient, and I'll see." 

"Nurse, tell me when my dear rose-bush 

A blossom red will bear." 
O, by and by, my dear. Don't fret. 

Come, let me brush your hair." 

When shall I grow so tall, papa, 
That I can reach your head? " 

Quite soon enough, rny little one ; 
Wait patiently," he said. 

"Dear me ! " I thought ; 'they all say wait.' 

I'll put my dolls away, 
And go and sit upon the stairs 

As long as I can stay." 

Now I have waited patiently 
For hours and hours and hours, 

And yet the dear doll has not come, 
The Summer, nor the flowers. 

I have not grown a single bit, 

And now I know it's late, 
I'm going up to tell mamma 

It does no good to wait. 



WORK. 



1 ' Six days slialt thou labor. 



P^HE wickedness we are especially warned against com- 
mitting on the Sibbath is work ; and according to the 
above command, the particular sin of secular days is 

*W idleness. Other commands to do or forbear certain 
acts are absolute and without reference to times or seasons ; 
we are not to suppose it is more unlawful to speak falsely or 
profanely, to take what is not our own, or to deprive an- 
other of life on the Sabbath than on any other day of the 
seven. Whatever is in itself right, is always right; as, 
whatever is in itself wrong, is always wrong. '• Virtue is 
its own reward." But work is not its own reward. We 
work, not for the sake of work, but for the sake of some- 
thing else ; and we rest that we may be able to work again. 
Thus, neither work nor rest is in itself right or wrong ; only 
becomes so by God's special command, to labor on certain 
days and refrain from labor on certain other days. 

The public conscience is often enough and with com- 
mendable zeal and emphasis addressed on the wickedness 
as well as impolicy of Sabbath labor. But is not the com- 
mand to labor six days as imperative as that to abstain from 
work on the seventh? If so, is there less sin in disobeying 
the former than the latter ? Is he who despises and refuses 
obedience to the law of labor less culpable than he who 
violates the law of rest ? Does not the positive command 
"six days shalt thou labor," as firmly and authoritatively set 
apart such portion of time to physical or intellectual exer- 
tion as the command to abstain from work on the seventh 



42 THE GLIDING STAR. 

day makes the Sabbath sacred to rest? Yet the occasional 
transgression of the law against Sabbath labor is sure to be 
met with deserved reprehension, while the far more com- 
mon sin of habitual idleness passes comparatively unre- 
buked. 

But it is not only as a duty, as the fulfillment of an obli- 
gation, that the rightfulness of labor presents itself to our 
view ; as a means of happiness, useful employment is of the 
first importance. Industry is indispensable to the full enjoy- 
ment of life. Willing industry rather, for, to work merely 
because necessity compels is slavish. And yet we may 
well question whether they whose lot is hard, compulsory 
toil," enjoy less than those mis-called fortunate ones whose 
lives are a succession of idle, vacant hours. Thousands 
whom pecuniary independence has deprived of all outward 
incentive to exertion and whose education has not taught 
them to find pleasure in useful occupation, become discon- 
tented, end unhappy ; and thinking the world would be bet- 
ter Without than with them, wish themselves dead. Give 
them something to do ; open to them a channel for their 
talent ; make them feel that their efforts are needed, that a 
career of usefulness is before them, and how pleasant life 
becomes ! how glad they are to live ! 




A SOURCE OF EVIL. 




O one has studied either himself or his neighbor, or 
the Church, without having discovered that parsi- 



mony and spiritual progress are impossible in the 
^^ same person. If a man have his heart set on money 
either to make it or save it, or both, he will inevitably 
dwarf in soul ; and if a church refuse to be liberal, and if it 
conduct all its business upon the plan of parsimony, it will 
dwindle and die. This is taught us by abundant observa- 
tion and so plainly that it needs no argument. 

We do not need to explain the reason of such a fact ; the 
fact itself is enough. If people will net profit by it, neither 
will they be profited by an exposition of law or a discussion 
of philosophy. Avarice and parsimony bring a blight to 
religion, and this being so, it is the duty and policy of Christ- 
ians to avoid them. That they are not always avoided, and 
that they rule and control so many men in all their feelings 
and actions, is a sad illustration of the weakness of human 
nature, and of the power of a sinful propensity when it is 
not kept in check by grace and a healthy practice of piety. 

There are many causes of trouble in churches, but more 
springing out of this awful love of money than any other. 
A man gives way to his selfishness and takes a stand on the 
side of illiberality. He gathers others about him and in- 
creases both the volume and force of his backward current. 
Sometime, before even he expects and almost before the 
others know, it has grown into an influence strong enough 



44 THE GUIDING STAR. 

to disturb the peace of the people, and the progress of the 
work, and grace perishing out of the hearts of Christians, 
and Church work dying on their hands, they see the beau" 
tiful garden of the Lord turned into a desert and made the 
laughing stock of the scorners. It is all the result of a pe- 
nurious spirit. A proper regard for duty and for the inter- 
ests of the kingdom would have saved it all, and instead of 
the blight and desolation, there would have been cheerful 
prosperity and luxuriant fruitage. 




WE MUST BE IN TIME. 




E on time for every call, 
If you can be first of all ; 

Be in time. 
If your teachers only find 
You are never once behind, 
But are like the dial, true, 
They will always trust in you ; 
Be in time. 

Never linger ere you start ; 
Set out with a willing heart; 

Be in time. 
In the morning up and on, 
First to work, and soonest done ; 
This is how the goal's attained, 
This is how the prize is gained ; 

Be in time. 

Those who aim at something great 
Never yet were found too late ; 

Be in time. 
Sjj Life with all is but a school ; 
We must work by plan and rule, 
Wi.th some noble end in view, 
Ever ready, earnest, true; 

Be in time. 

Listen, then, to wisdom's call ; 
Knowledge now is free to all ; 

Be in time. 
Youth must daily toil and strive ; 
Treasure for the future hive, 
For the work they have to do ; 
Keep this motto still in view ; 

Be in time. 



TWENTY YEARS OUT OF BONDAGE, 

Or, the Intellectual March of an Emancipated People ; 



\ tFljJrf / ^ E world moves, and the colored race of America 

fft% is moving with it. We speak, of course, from an 
/y My intellectual standpoint. No well informed man, 

^pJ who has watched the progress of the world for the 
past twenty years at least, will deny that he has been im- 
pressed with the fact that the colored race of this country 
has made rapid strides, intellectually, since freedom was 
proclaimed. 

Twenty years ago, four millions of American slaves, 
unlettered and debased by centuries of oppression, were 
declared forever free. This done, the roar of battle 
ceased, the long night of darkness began to vanish, and 
once more the heart of a great nation beat freely as of 
yore. The crushing out of the rebellion, and the destruc- 
tion of slavery, placed us, as a nation, upon the solid 
granite foundation of a pure Christian democracy, opening 
before us almost <( dazzling vistas of honor, prosperity and 
greatness." 

After passing through more than two and one-half cent- 
uries of oppression, such as that described above, the 
African race was allowed to go free. Our wrongs and 
privations had been many. Slavery had robbed us of much 
that is dear to any people.. Without money, without 
education, with scarcely anything, save dear freedom itself, 
we were thrust upon the world to "' sink or swim; live or 
die, survive or perish." What was to be our future we 



TWENTY YEARS OUT OF BOA DAG E. 47 

knew not. But, with strong, unflinching faith in the same 
God, who led Israel through the Red Sea, we went forward. 
Twenty years have elapsed since that memorable event, and 
what has been our history? How have we progressed? 
Have we proved to the world that we are men — that "we 
be brethren?" The united world answers, "Yes!" It is 
an encouraging fact, and one admitted by all who have 
watched our movements since the Emancipation Proclama- 
tion, that no people have made so great progress in so 
short a time. Sometime during the year 1871, the 
Governor of the State of Georgia, appointed a committee, 
consisting of ten persons, to be present at the examination 
of the Atlanta University. Said committee (most of whom 
were of the old slave-holding class) were in attendance 
when the examination came off. The examination lasted 
three days, and the following report was made by the com- 
mittee appointed by the Governor: "At every step of 
the examination we were impressed with the fallacy of the 
popular idea (which is common with thousands of others,) 
a majority of the undersigned have heretofore entertained, 
that the members of the African race are not capable of a 
high grade of intelligent culture. The rigid tests to which 
the classes in algebra and geometry and in Latin and Greek 
were subjected, unequivocally demonstrated that under 
judicious training, and with persevering study, there are 
many members of the African race who can attain a high 
grade of intellectual culture. They prove that they can 
master intricate problems in mathematics, and fully com- 
prehend the construction of different passages in the 
classics. Many of the pupils exhibited a degree of mental 
culture which, considering the length of time their minds 
have been in training, would do credit to the members of 
any race." 



48 THE GUIDING STAR. 

The avidity with which our race has sought knowledge 
during these years of freedom is remarkable, and it has 
been highly commended again and again. In so short a 
time one could hardly expect much from a people emerg- 
ing from a bondage lasting two and one half centuries; but 
it is gratifying to the race, and astonishing to the world, to 
know that in the twenty years of our freedom we have pro- 
duced Senators, statesmen, clergymen and doctors of 
eminence and renown. Furthermore, we have real estate 
owners, business men of keen insight ; also editors and 
authors who are not only doing a lucrative business, but 
also giving instruction, as well as delight and pleasure, to 
thousands in the world. 

Let us review the history of the race during the past 
twenty years, and show the moral, intellectual and spiritual 
progress made in that short period. 

I. OUR MORAL PROGRESS. 

It is indeed remarkable that a race of beings, debased, 
down- trodden, and abused for centuries, without refine- 
ment, without knowledge, should give so little trouble 
during these twenty years of freedom. When first set 
free, we made no attempts for having revenge upon our 
former task masters. We excited no insurrection, no 
mob, committed no murder; but at once sought honest 
labor, and endeavored to use the wages therefrom for the 
support and comfort of our broken families. 

The colored race, since emancipation, has made a good 
record in morals. This is admitted on all sides. 

A recent writer on the behavior of the colored people, 
since freedom was proclaimed, says: "They are of a 
peaceable, docile disposition, desiring to live in harmony 
with their neighbors." Mrs. McDougal, who is at present 
(1883) visiting the South, says of a colored school there, 



TWENTY YEARS OUT OF BONDAGE. 49 

that " there must be great encouragement in teaching such 
earnest students. It is always pleasant to have good ma- 
terial to work on. Here also testimony is borne to the 
good order, absence of tutbulence, and freedom from the 
scrapes into which white college boys are prone to fall, 
that has met me vi every colored school and college I have 
visited from the first. Eithei they are kept too busy, or 
they have less original sin than young palefaces." 

It is indeed a great wonder that a once enslaved people 
should behave themselves so well. Slavery, it is well 
known, is degrading to any people. 

Yet statistics show that fewer crimes have been committed, 
and less trouble has been given by them, than by a propor- 
tionate number of free born men. 

This may be owing to the fact that we are, as a race, " a 
quiet and inoffensive people." And yet, notwithstanding 
we have this reputation, the world has long since learned 
that while we are seldom if ever aggressive, we are, and 
should be, always defensive. 

Is it not astonishing that, in the face of these facts, there 
should be so much objection to-day to allowing men of color 
to put up at hotels with other men, or to travel together 
upon public. thoroughfares? Is it not strange that so much 
prejudice should exist toward a race of beings whom the 
world admits has acted so well morally during these few- 
years of freedom ? Today, how r ever well bred or dressed 
a man of color may be, however little he may mingle with 
others of a lighter hue, there is no small amount of trouble 
gendered, and he is allowed no peace or comfort until he 
retreats to other quarters. Now, why is this ? Is it because 
he has been a slave ? he could not help that. Is it be- 
cause he has a dark complexion ? He could not dictate to 
his Creator as to what color he should have. Is it because 



50 THE GUIDING STAR. 

he is not a gentlemen, and does not conduct himself in a 
gentlemanly way ? This can not be the reason for such 
treatment to which he is subjected almost everywhere he 
goes ; for facts go to show that during his freedom at least 
he has behaved himself in a most commendable and gentle- 
manly manner. On the public thoroughfare, at home, 
abroad — into whatever society the colored race has been 
cast, our behavior has not been that expected from a savage 
or enslaved people ; but rather that of an obedient and law- 
abiding race in whom the traces of servitude could scarcely 
be seen. 

II. OUR INTELLECTUAL PROGRESS. 

That we have, as a race, made great intellectual progress 
in the last twenty years is manifest to all. No people ever 
perused the spelling book, and the reader with greater zeal ; 
none ever seized the grand opportunity to learn with glader 
hearts. ''The desire to learn displayed by the negro," 
says a recent writer, ''was perhaps the most surprising feat- 
ure that grew out of his new condition. It quickly pervaded 
both sexes and all ages. Mother and child, romping youth 
and hoary age, attacked the alphabet and spelling book to- 
gether, and kept up the assault with astonishing zeal. The 
number that has learned to read and write with tolerable 
facility is quite large ; and there are few who do not make 
some pretentions to be classed therein." Rev. C. M. South- 
gate, of Massachusetts, says of the students being trained, 
at the institutions in Atlanta, New Orleans, Charleston, and 
the other large Southern cities, that " the scholarship can 
be compared, without fear, with similar grades at the North. 
I never heard in our boasted common schools such recita- 
tions as I have heard from boys as black as the blackest. 
I know what Yale, and Harvard, and Dartmouth can show ; 
but in Greek and Latin those colored students can rival their 



TWENTY YEARS OUT OF BONDAGE. 51 

excellence. " Still another says : ' ' They were turned loose 
without a cent of their own or a letter of the alphabet. 
That they have done well in acquiring property and knowl- 
edge under the circumstances, is the testimony of all who 
know them." 

But not only have we, through untiring zeal, acquired a 
knowledge of the rudiments of education. We have more 
of which we can boast. Many of the most responsible, as 
well as the most lucrative stations in life are filled by colored 
men — men, too, of no small reputation and service in our 
country, and 'who "came up out of great tribulations." 
There is Douglass, and Bruce, and Langston, and Elliott, 
and Williams — men of almost universal reputation to-day. 
Also others, whom we might mention, are making a grand 
record for themselves, and their once oppressed race. And 
what a noble army of young men and women of color is be- 
ing trained in the schools and colleges that are scattered all 
over the land ! In the year 1878, there were enrolled in the 
public schools of the former slave States 675,150 colored 
children. At the normal schools in the same year, there 
was an attendance of 5,236; at institutions of secondary 
education, 5,290; at colleges and universities, 1,620; at 
schools of theology, 626 ; at law schools, 44 ; at medical 
schools, 94. The deep interest, as well as the great faith, 
benevolent people have in these schools and the pupils at- 
tending them, is shown by the following appropriations 
made for their support. Maryland annually appropriates for 
a colored normal school $2,000 ; Virginia for Hampton Insti- 
tute, $10,000 ; Georgia, for the Atlanta University, $8,000; 
Mississippi, for the higher education of our colored youth, 
$10,000 ; Missouri gives $5,000 ; and the constitution of 
Louisiana provides that there shall be for the same purpose 
an annual expenditure of from $5,000 to $10,000. The 



52 THE GUIDING STAR. 

Religious Herald, of Richmond, Virginia, says that "in 
every State in the South the public school is open to the 
colored children just as to the white. Millions of dollars 
are raised annually by taxation for the support of schools 
for that portion of our population." 

Now, these facts are encouraging to the race, and cause the 
members thereof to feel hopeful. Especially should this be 
so, when we remember that it is not many years ago since 
there was a great commotion in Boston itself over the fact 
that a colored child had been admitted into the public 
schools ; and, also, that in the same old Puritan city the ad- 
vocates of freedom were led through the streets with ropes 
around their necks. Thank God a grand revolution has 
taken place. Times have changed. The gate of knowl- 
edge has been opened, and all are permitted to enter. 

Not only have our colored youth been enrolled as pupils, 
but they are doing the wjik assigned them, and doing 
it in a way that excites the wonder and admiration of their 
tutors. 

Dr. W. F. Mallalieu says : "It must not be supposed that 
the young people in attendance upon these schools are dull 
and slow to learn. They average very well in all their stud- 
ies, and will compare favorably with students of similar 
grades in Northern schools. The class in English Litera- 
ture at Clark are at home in their examinations, and show 
the results of superior training, and superior ability. The 
class in Cicero at Clark can read Latin, and translate it with 
a fluency and accuracy really surprising. They catch the 
idiom, and the style and spirit of the orator, and show that 
they read in fullest sympathy with the orator. So other 
classes might be specified, and excellencies equally praise- 
worthy might be noted, but these will serve to indicate the 
possibilities which are within reach of these young men and 



TWENTY YEARS OUT OF BONDAGE. 53 

women who only a few years ago, were supposed by many 
to have no capacity for knowledge, if indeed they belonged 
to the human race. In a generation or two they will de- 
velope results which will more than justify the hopes of their 
warmest friends, and amply repay all the toil and expense 
that have been bestowed upon them." 

It is indeed gratifying to know how deep an interest is 
taken by the pupils in these schools in developing their 
minds ; also how much is being done to encourage them in 
their pursuit for knowledge. What a grand work, for in- 
stance, is being done by the Freedman's Aid Society ! In 
the past fourteen years, 66,000 scholars were taught in the 
schools of the society. Half a million are said to have been 
taught by those who received instruction in these schools. 
And, as a further illustration of what the society's work has 
been, it may be said that it has aided in establishing and 
supporting six charted collegiate institutions. Then, too, 
consider the good work being done in this direction by the 
American Baptist Home Mission Society. It has estab- 
lished twelve schools for the freedmen, and one for the In- 
dians. These are supported wholly or principally by the 
society. The total number of pupils attending these schools 
to-day is 1,600. Of these, about 400 are preparing to preach 
the gospel among the six millions of our race. 

When these glorious truths are sounded in our ears, and 
we remember the great disadvantages and barriers that lay 
in our way, we can but thank God and take courage. Only 
a few years ago, we were groaning under the ''iron heel of 
oppression," and considered fit for nothing but "hewers of 
wood and drawers of water. " 

To-day we have among us doctors, clergymen, lawyers, 
professors and editors — men of profound mental calibre, 
whose influence for good reaches not alone the living, but 
5 



64 THE GUIDING STAR. 

generations yet unborn. Not a few of our race have given 
to the world books, readable and instructive, in the past 
score of years, and they have received the highest com- 
mendation of the press. Then we have some eighty or 
ninety papers throughout the country, issued by colored 
men ; and these are all ably conducted, and exerting a 
wholesome and widespread influence. 

III. OUR SPIRITUAL PROGRESS. 

By this I mean the advancement made by the church in 
numerical strength, intelligent ministers, and societies for 
the relief of the poor, and the promotion of the gospel. In 
this direction, also, we have made progress. Our religious 
privileges are greater, our houses of worship are more num- 
erous, our church members are many, and many of our pul- 
pits are filled with men of no ordinary intelligence. 

To-day, there are in this country, 5,613 colored Baptist 
churches. Twenty years ago there were not half the num- 
ber. To-day there are 3,257 ordained Baptist ministers. 
Twenty years ago there were not half the number. 

In fourteen years the Freedman's Aid Society established 
in New Orleans alone 18 Methodist churches, and these 
churches now have 3,000 communicants. In the same 
length of time the same society established in the State of 
Louisiana, 114 churches, worth $230,323, and having 
11,000 members. In Mississippi 300 churches were organ- 
ized, and they have to-day a membership of 25,000. In 
Texas 208 churches are to be seen as the work of said Freed- 
man's Aid Society, and the members are said to number 
20,000. 

Then there are hundreds of benevolent societies that give 
aid to the sick and poor.- These also are exerting an indi- 
rect influence favorable to Christianity. Generally, the 



TWENTY YEARS OUT OF BONDAGE. bo 

members of these societies are of that class who seek to do 
good among their race, and in order to understand the value 
of their service to the country at large, we have but to ex- 
amine the reports of work accomplished in the last twenty 
years. In many of the churches, missionary societies have 
also been formed, and work has been done to send the gos- 
pel to the end of the earth. Sunday-schools meet once a 
week in their respective churches, and there they are intelli- 
gently taught the word of God ; and lectures, religious and 
otherwise, of a learned character, are given to the young 
and old alike, by some of our colored leaders who com- 
mand an attentive hearing even among white audiences. 
What a change ! How great a revolution in twenty short 
years ! 

In our churches we have, as spiritual guides, bishops and 
ministers of whom we need not be ashamed — men who have 
had the advantage of a superior education, and who are re- 
spected by all classes wherever they go. Sometimes we 
meet those who are surprised at the attainments of our lead- 
ers ; and they are led to ask the question propounded on one 
occasion concerning our Lord: " Whence hath this man 
this wisdom ? " A case in point is that of Professor Ernest 
W. Clement, of Atlanta Seminary. He says: " Before I 
came here, I knew almost nothing of freedmen, except the 
dark side as pictured in Judge Toyrgee's political novels. 
I knew very little of the capabilities of the colored race, and 
what I did know was not particularly complimentary. The 
day after I came here, I had an opportunity to attend a con- 
vention of colored churches. I must acknowledge that I 
was surprised, but none the less delighted, at what I saw 
there. I had never before been in a gathering of colored 
people, and their parliamentary precision, their orderly con- 
duct, the intelligence and eloquence displayed in their 
speeches were to me remarkable.*' 



56 THE GUIDTNG ST Alt. 

It seems to be the belief of not a few men in the world, 
that the colored race is incapable of any great mental devel- 
opment. Nay, many appear to doubt that "God hath 
made of one blood all the nations that dwell upon the face 
•of the earth." B_it human nature is the same everywhere. 
Reports from all quarters of the globe, and from all ages of 
the world, make up a mass of concurrent testimony to ver- 
ify the doctrine of a common, human brotherhood. Every- 
where human nature presents but one organism. When 
Paul stood on the summit of the Areapagus, addressing the 
Athenians, he said God had made of one blood all nations 
of men. The brotherhood of man, and the oneness of 
human nature are clearly proved by the anatomical structure 
of man, by his pathological characteristics, by the duration 
of human life, and by the cardinal powers of the human mind. 

Let once the deep sense of a common brotherhood be re- 
ceived ; let it be illustrated in our lives, and society in al- 
most no time will be completely revolutionized. There will 
immediately spring up among us a love and union that will 
prove as potent and lasting as truth itself. The injustice 
and wrong now and then experienced by the despised races 
will then be no longer feared. Animosity, prejudice, and 
hatred will soon give place to the wholesome influence of 
love, sympathy, and kindness. 

Brethren, let us look to the loyal, liberty-loving people 
of this country for all that is justly due us. It is true, we 
have already much to be thankful for ; but still we should 
not be satisfied until all our rights, full and free, are given, 
and we are looked upon as men and brethren. 

We want, and ought to have, those God-given rights 
afforded citizens in general . ; we want, and ought to have, 
protection ; we want, and ought to have, representation in 
national affairs ; we want, and ought to have, whatever will 



T I! T ENT Y YEA A'S OUT OF B OND A G E. 57 

tend most to advance our intellectual, financial, and moral 
worth. 

These demands are right and proper inasmuch as we 
fought for our rights upon the fields of battle in the late war. 
Considering our numerical strength, and especially the time 
and labor expended, without any remuneration, in enriching 
yonder southern soil, — considering these things, we justly 
deserve a much larger representation in the afairsofthis 
government. We have the men ; and why not call them 
into office? It is customary for the nation to place those 
who were most serviceable and brave in the late rebellion 
into the highest positions of honor and trust, thus showing 
high appreciation of valuable service in the country's behalf. 
But hew many men of color who were once brave and val- 
ient soldiers will be found in these positions ? 

A few directions as to our course in the future, and 1" have 
done. 

First. Let ?is be united among, ourselves. 

"In union there is strength." Aesop, in his fables, tells 
of an old man who, many years ago, called around him his 
several sons. Having come unto him as bidden, the old 
man sent one of them cut to procure a bundle of sticks. 
When he returned, the father requested his son to take the 
bundle, place it across his knee, and break it if he could. 
This proved to be too great a task for him, as well as for the 
remaining sons. Then the father endeavored to teach them 
that there w r as strength in union, but that divided they 
should fall. 

So, brethren, will it be with us. Let us, therefore, see to 
it that we be united, that we stand together, shoulder to 
shoulder, in one solid phalanx. The age in which we live 
is one that calls for strong, stalwart men, especially among 
our own race. Now, "a single drop of water is a weak and 



68 THE GUIDING STAR. 

powerless thing; but an infinite number of drops united by 
the force of attraction will form a stream, and many streams 
combined will form a river, till rivers pour their waters into 
the mighty oceans, whose proud waves, defying the power 
of man, none can stay but He who formed them. And 
thus forces, which, acting singly are utterly impotent, are, 
when acting in combination, resistless in their energies, 
mighty in power. " So, too, is it with individuals and races. 
Acting singly and alone our power is little felt. But when 
once united, and we feel that one's cause is the other's cause, 
we then become one of the most invincible powers of the 
earth. 

Second. Let us continue our pursuit of knowledge. 

Knowledge is the great lever that elevates all nations that 
respect her. Knowledge is power. Where knowledge 
goes, civilization is bound to follow. ( As a race, we have 
made rapid strides during the past twenty years. This is 
the confession or acknowledgement of some of our most in- 
veterate enemies. But let us not rest contented. Much 
ground yet remains to be trodden. Like Newton, we have 
been as children playing on the sea shore, and now and then 
rinding a prettier shell than ordinary, while the great ocean 
of truth lies all undiscovered before us. What we want 
most as a race, is knowledge and wealth. Having these, 
we shall have all ; for these two great earthly blessings, 
knowledge and wealth, will command respect from all. 

Let, therefore, our preachers become more learned and 
eloquent; let our authors become more numerous and at- 
tractive ; let our lawyers become more logical and persua- 
sive at the bar — let the whole race diligently and earnestly 
pursue the path of knowledge, ever remembering that thus 
only will they become good, useful, intelligent citizens, 
and build themselves up to a higher state of civilization, cul- 
ture and refinement. 



CHRISTIAN UNION. 




HEN we examine the lively oracles of eternal 
truth we find that there was a unity and a happy 
unanimity in all the members of the primitive 
Christian church, that the whole company of 
believers were of one heart and of one soul, one in doctrine 
and opinion, being united in judgment and affection as one 
body animated by one soul, so that there were no con- 
troversies, jealousies, or divisions known among them. 
Their minds and thoughts were occupied about the doc- 
trines of the gospel and the salvation of souls. They 
continued in the most harmonious manner to meet together 
in the courts of the Temple to worship God, and attended 
steadfastly to the instructions of the apostles, adhering to 
their doctrine in faith and love. Thus we see in them a 
lovely exhibition, and the effects of genuine Christianity. 
All professors of religion should carefully consider, and be 
disposed to copy, the example of these first fruits of the 
gospel — this specimen of the genuine nature and tendency 
of true Christianity ; for unless their views, affections and 
conduct, in a good measure, correspond with it, they have 
good reason to question whether they are true believers, or 
are believers and members of Christ only in name. Every 
party, sect and denomination should study to copy the pat- 
tern here exhibited, 'and pray without ceasing for the pour- 
ing out of the Spirit to produce again such blessed effects 
among all the professors of religion, so that all may con- 
tinue steadfast in the apostles' doctrine, and in fellowship 
one with another. If any professor of religion profess 



60 THE GUIDING STAR. 

that he walks in the . light of the gospel as a partaker of 
special grace, yet loveth not his brethren in Christ of every 
name, it is evident that he is still in darkness, and a subject 
of the Prince of Darkness, the author of all malice, envy, 
murder and malignity. Our Saviour's intercessory prayer 
was that all true believers might be most intimately united 
in judgment and affection, in doctrine, worship and love, 
according to the mysterious union that existed between the 
Father and himself. As there should exist such a close 
and intimate union among Christians of every name as 
exists between God, the Father and the Son, not a unity 
of essence and nature, but of will and affection, all Chris- 
tians should have a unity of love, and of faith and 
profession, a unity of practice and conversation. 

In some respects this request is granted in behalf of all 
true Christians in proportion to the degree of their illumi- 
nation and sanctification. But the more closely they are 
united in judgment and affection, and the more entirely 
they live in peace and harmony, professing the same doc- 
trine and worshiping the same God as with one heart and 
one mouth, this conduct, affords the clearest evidence of 
the divine original, and excellency of the gospel to the 
convincing of the world around them. For wicked men 
are apt to say it will be soon enough for them to embrace 
the gospel when its professors are agreed among them- 
selves in what it consists. Many professors are not aware 
of the advantage which infidels and ungodly men have 
made of the divisions and controversies among Christians 
against the common interest of true religion. But the 
union which prevailed among Christians when the gospel 
was first propagated, as springing from the comiminion of 
the Holy Spirit the sanctifier, evidenced to the world the 
divine origin of Christianity in a manner not much less 



CHRISTIAN UNION. 61 

convincing than the miraculous powers of the same Spirit. 
All true Christians having a union and communion with 
the Father and the Son by the indwelling of the Holy 
Spirit should have a union of peace and harmony with one 
another, as this formed the substance of Christ's prayer to 
all his followers to the end of time. They can not see 
things exactly in the same light ; thus a spirit of mutual 
candor, forbearance, and active self-denying kindness 
among all who love the Lord Jesus Christ, in sincerity, 
would convince the world that they are of one heart and 
soul, and are fellow soldiers in one army under the Captain 
of salvation, though not exactly marshalled and disciplined 
in the same manner, though they are all fighting not only 
against flesh and blood, but against powers, against the 
rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual 
wickedness in high places. All sects and parties should 
give up their party names and call themselves Christians, 
which name was given to the followers of Christ by a 
divine monition of the Spirit, according to the prophecy of 
Isaiah: "For the Lord God shall slay Israel and call his 
disciples by another name." Though the disciples had 
called each other brethren, believers and saints, v/hich 
names were not sufficiently distinguishing, but the word of 
Christian donated their reliance on Christ, their anointed 
Prince and Saviour. 

Let party names no more 

The Christian world o'erspread ; 

Let Christians of every name 
Be one in Christ, their head. 
Among the saints on earth 
Let mutual love abound — 
Heirs of the same inheritance 
With mutual blessing crowned. 



62 THE GUIDING STAR. 

Thus will the church below 

Resemble that above, 
Where streams of endless pleasure flow, 
And every heart is love. 

The whole Christian church, the body of Christ, the 
Christians of every name, sect and party, should awake, 
and with one heart and one soul go forth in one solid pha- 
lanx, unitedly proclaiming the gospel of the grace of God 
— the gospel of peace to the earth — and let all the petty 
disgraceful and ruinous disputes between the various de- 
nominations of professing Christians be forgotten, and put 
forth all their energies in one united force to the conversion 
of the world. Then the Spirit of God would be poured 
out upon the world from on high ; judgment would dwell 
in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful 
field ; the work of righteousness would be peace, and the 
effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever. 
All God's people would dwell in peaceable habitations, in 
sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places ; and the Lord 
would then comfort Zion and all her waste places, making 
her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of 
the Lord. Joy and gladness would be found therein, 
thanksgiving and the voice of melody. 




A PITHY SERMON TO YOUNG MEN. 



SBOU are the architects of your own fortunes. Rely 
«^pp£ upon your strength of body and soul. Take for 

xjjJItS' your motto self-reliance, honesty and industry ; for 
"^ your star, faith, perseverance and pluck, and inscribe 
on your banner, "Be just and fear not." Don't take too 
much advice"; keep at the helm and steer your own ship. 
Strike out. Think well of yourself. Fire above the mark 
you intend to hit. Assume your position. Don't practice 
excessive humility ; you can't get above your level, as 
water don't run up hill — haul potatoes in a cart over a 
rough road and the small potatoes will go to the bottom. 
Energy, invincible determination, with a right motive, are 
the levers that rule the world. The great art of command- 
ing is to take a fair share of the work. Civility costs 
nothing and buys everything. Don't drink ; don't smoke ; 
don't swear ; don't steal ; don't gamble ; don't deceive ; 
don't tattle. Be polite; be generous; be kind. Study 
hard ; play hard. Be in earnest. Be self-reliant. Read 
good books. Love your fellow men as your God ; love 
your country and obe}' the laws; love truth, love virtue. 
Always do what your conscience tells you to be a duty, 
and leave the rest with God. 



THE CHILD'S ETIQUETTE. 



j 

J v. 

m 



RjfHE following hints on Education, Etiquette and 
i^ Morals, from the pen of George Francis Train, are 

worth noticing: 
s i. Always say Yes sir, No sir. Yes, papa. 

No, papa. Thank you. No, thank you. Good-night. 
Good morning. Never say How, or Which, for What. 
Use no slang terms. Remember good spelling, reading, 
writing and grammar are the base of ail true education. 

2. Clean faces, clean clothes, clean shoes, and clean 
finger nails indicate good breeding. Never leave your 
clothes about the room. Have a place for everything and 
everything in its place. 

3. Rap before entering a room, and never leave it with 
your back to the company. Never enter a private room or 
public place with your cap on. 

4. Always offer your set to a lady or old gentleman. 
Let your companions enter the carriage or room first. 

5. *At the table eat with your fork; sit up straight; 
never use your tooth pick (although Europeans do), and 
when leaving ask to be excused. 

6. Never put your feet on cushions, chairs or table. 

7. Never overlook any one when reading or writing, 
nor talk or read aloud while others are. reading. When 
conversing listen attentively, and do not interrupt or reply 
until the other has finished. 

8. N^ver talk or whisper aloud in a private roo n where 
any one is singing or playing the piano. 



THE CHILD'S ETIQUETTE. 



65 



9. Loud coughing, hawking, yawning, sneezing and 
blowing are ill-mannered. In every case cover your mouth 
with your handkerchief (which never examine — nothing is 
more vulgar except spitting on the floor.) 

10. Treat all with respect, especially the poor. Be 
careful to injure no one's feelings by unkind remarks. 
Never tell tales, make faces, call names, ridicule the lame, 
mimic the unfortunate, or be cruel to insects, birds or 
animals. 




HOUSEKEEPING. 




NE of the best things about housekeeping is, that it 
requires the exercise of the highest faculties of the 
human mind ; we see women every day who are 
statesmen in the management of affairs, calm, inde- 
pendent and self-possessed in emergencies. Some of the 
best traits of character are constantly cultivated. 

If any class of women can be said to have virtues thrust 
upon them, it is the housekeepers of our day. If every 
woman would set it before her as an aim worthy of all that 
is strongest and best in her, to conduct a well-ordered home, 
a good deal of happiness and real beauty would be gained. 
How faces, once lovely, are transformed by the addition of 
those wicked little lines about the eyes and mouth which 
come from having fretted over necessary work — work, too, 
which, if properly engaged in, would not injure the doer. 

There are times, probably, when the happiest wife and 
mother thinks with longing of Thoraeu's housekeeping at 
Walden Pond, and admires his resolution in throwing the 
fragments of limestone, with which he had ornamented his 
desk, out of the window when he found they must be 
dusted every day ; but there is absolutely no use in fretting 
over petty annoyances, and since the danger of falling into 
the habit is great, every sensible woman will endeavor to 
look to the bright side of all her troubles. 

Suppose the baked potatoes should be eaten the moment 
they are done, and an important member of the family, 



HOUSEKEEPING. 67 

knowing the dinner hour, is late : don't worry over the 
matter ; every such little worry indulged in is like a chisel 
deepening the lines already formed by some real trouble. 
Everybody, it is to be feared, knows women who never 
seem really to rouse up to enjoy anything, unless it is a 
misfortune, and who remind their guests of the dinner 
Charles Lamb describes, where roast lady was served with 
every course. 




SELF-INDULGENCE. 



n 



PHERE are Christians, apparently sitting year after 
®g year in idleness, who profess willingness and anxiety 



to work if they could only find an opportunity for 
^ usefulness. Undoubtedly they are fastidious in their 
views as to the work they undertake, and mostly claim they 
lack the talent for any kind of work which does not ap- 
prove itself to their tastes. The teaching of a class in the 
Sunday-school, the visitation of the poor, the making ac- 
quaintance with new comers to the church, the collection 
of subscriptions for missions or other agencies of benevo- 
lence, with other work which needs to be done, all present 
some feature which leads them to say: " I pray thee have 
me excused." The general disposition is for that which is 
easy and pleasant. But no Christian, giving the subject 
proper thought, Can think such self-indulgence becoming. 
As Christ pleased not himself, the disciple ought not to 
withhold his service if the work which offers is not in all 
respects agreeable to his mind. If it is work for Christ, 
that should be enough to enlist his enthusiasm, and draw 
forth his best energies. Christian work is to be engaged 
in neither for pastime nor pleasure. It is worthy of self- 
denial, and oftentimes out of self-denial will come the 
grandest enjoyments. 



BOYS OUT AFTER NIGHTFALL. 



^ypiHRISTIAN parents often make the mistake of think- 
rf -fe- ing that their children are doing their whole duty 
•TOMl when they are present at family worship, go to church 

♦ pretty regularly, and attend Sabbath-school. With 
this they fold their arms, close their eyes, and settle back 
into the chair of security, and feel they can do no more for 
their spiritual welfare. This is, indeed, a sad mistake. 
Parents too often forget that a single word or act may 
change the whole course of human life, and fix the eternal 
destiny of the soul. The paths that lead from the home 
circle to the outer world should be constantly watched and 
well guarded. Those parents certainly do not exercise 
enough forethought and watchful care who permit their 
sons such indulgences as are certain to result in their de- 
moralization, if not in total ruin. 

Among the habits which I have observed as tending most 
surely to ruin, is that of wasting time in the streets after 
nightfall. I am a sympathizing lover of boys, and I like to 
see them cheerful and happy, and would not for the world 
say or do anything to cheat them out of their rightful 
heritage of youth, yet I watch with a jealous eye lest they 
form habits while very young which can only bring upon 
them disgrace and sorrow in after life. To permit children 
to be out after nightfall is to expose them to ruin. 
Under cover of night, mingling with evil associates, they 
soon learn to use bad, vulgar, immoral and profane lan- 
guage, indulge in obscene practices, and get ready to grad- 
uate in the school of vice as rowdyish, dissolute men. 
6 



70 THE GUIDING STAR. 

Parents should have a rigid and inflexible rule never to 
allow their sons, under any circumstance, to go into the 
streets to meet other boys for social, out-of-door sports 
after nightfall ; but, instead, they should have pleasures 
around the family table in reading good books and papers, 
engaging in "pleasant conversation and cheerful amusements. 
A rigid rule of this kind adhered to would soon deaden the 
desire for such dangerous practices. But is this done ? 
Alas ! in very many instances it is not. 

A walk through some of our villages and towns, late in 
the evening, or a visit to the stores and groceries reveals 
the sad and painful fact. There we find boys, from ten 
years old and upward, smoking cigars, engaging in idle con- 
versation, jeering at passers-by, and what is still worse, they 
can be found too often at the saloons, drinking of the 
intoxicating cup. "What," methinks I hear some one ask, 
"not sons of Christian parents ? " Yes, I know whereof I 
speak. My own eyes and ears have seen and heard such 
things. 




MISS PUSSY'S SICKNESS. 




ISS PUSSY is ill; 
She lies very still 
In her snug little bed, 
^^^^ With a pain in her head. 

"O doctor!" cries she, 
' ' Pray what can it be 
That gives me such a pain 
On the top of my brain." 

Says old Doctor Grey, 
Excuse me, I pray, 
For seeming so rude, 
But it is for your good. 

" I really do think — " 
(This he says with a wink) ! 
"You have eaten a slice 
Too much of your mice !" 



LETTERS TO GIRLS. 



EAR GIRL: — How pleasant, how sweet is exist- 
'II ence, this bright June morning, while every breeze 




speaks hope, and the joyous song of birds seems 
to tell of gladness in store for you ; but does 
there come no earnest thoughts of duty, no purpose 
of faithful endeavor, and dreams of victory won through 
patience? It is right that you should entertain bright, 
glowing anticipations of the future, strewn with flowers 
and golden with sunshine ; but O, let the flowers be 
kindly deeds and words of love, plants of your own 
sowing ; and remember that you have no time to lose. 
As you sow so shall you reap, and though you will as long 
as you live be still sowing, to reap for eternity, yet now is 
especially your seed-time. Would that I could arouse you, 
in some measure, to a sense of the solemn responsibility 
resting upon you. Do not turn that pretty head away 
with impatience, saying ' ' My old friend has old ways and 
old thoughts, and would spoil all my joy, by burdening 
me with the thought of weighty responsibilities and solemn 
duties. My work for the present, at least, is being 
merry and happy, and just having the gayest time 
imaginable. By and by it will be time enough to think of 
serious things, and I intend to be good and wise some 
day." Softly, my dear girl; the good Book says: "As 
you sow so shall you reap." If by and by you would see 
the desert rejoicing and blossoming as the rose, because 
your feet have trodden there; if you shall have a right to 
rejoice in time to come that "strength and honor are your 
clothing," you should feel, even now, the stirring of high 
resolve and lofty purpose. How do you prefer to be 



LETTERS TO GIRLS. 73 

regarded? As only a "fair defect of nature," or "the 
fairest of creation — last and best of all God's works," whose 
price is far above rubies ? If the first, you have only to be 
a " girl of the period;'' idle, vain, frivolous, and, in that 
by and by to which you are hastening, you will surely be 
that restless, most unhappy of all beings, a woman of the 
world. If you would one day be a " perfect woman, nobly 
planned," remember now, that it is only the fruit of your 
own hands that can be given you ; your own works shall 
praise you in the gates, or be to you cause for shame and 
confusion of face. 

I have heard of a young lady who is called "the merriest 
girl that's out," and spoken of by her young gentlemen ac- 
quaintances as "a perfect daisy — so jolly, you know." When 
she walks the street, she swings herself along, with an air 
of nonchalance which says, as plainly as w r ords could, "You 
may speak to me if you like." She talks slang, and by 
conversing with her a half hour you may learn all the new- 
est words and phrases in this department. If you see her 
at church (she goes sometimes, just for fun) your attention 
will probably be diverted from the solemn services of the 
hour, by her talking during the sermon ; passing and re- 
ceiving notes which she reads during prayers, and various 
other acts, which not only make her appear ridiculous to all 
sensible people, but which, considering time and place, are 
actually disgraceful. This young lady does not regard the 
wishes of her mother, and is almost daily guilty of false- 
hood and deception to evade the prohibitions of her fond 
and tender father. Ah ! will not her sin find her out ? Do 
you know her ? Have you, my dear girl, begun to take up 
with any of her ways ? Are you ever careless or disobedi- 
ent to the admonitions of that loving father who would 
willingly lay down his life for your good ? 



TRUE WOMANHOOD. 



TRUE woman is one of earth's greatest and noblest 
l f blessings. Her price is far above rubies. Her pres- 
?j[WS ence m the world makes earth cheerful. Without 
^ her genial countenance, her kind and tender words of 
counsel, this world would be anything but a desirable place 
in which to dwell. Instead of the joy, peace, happiness, 
and prosperity now realized, there would be,* without the 
presence of woman, sorrow, misery and woe. But observe, 
we say this only of the true woman. And here the ques- 
tion may be asked: "What is a true woman?" Well, 
about the best description of a true woman we ever saw, 
is the one given by the wise man in his Book of Proverbs. 
He says : 

" Who can find a virtuous woman ? 
For her price is far above rubies. 
The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, 
So that he shall have no heed of spoil. 
She will do him good and not evil, 
All the days of her life. 
She seeketh wool and flax, 
And worketh willingly with her hands. 
She is like the merchant's ship, 
She bringeth her food from afar. 
She riseth also while it is yet night, 
And giveth meat to her household 
And a portion to her maidens. 
She considereth a field and buyeth it ; 
With the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard. 
She girdeth her loins with strength, 
And strengtheneth her arms. 
She trieth her merchandise that it is good; 
Her lamp goeth not out by night. 
She layeth her hands to the spindle, 
And her hands hold the distaff. 



TRUE WOMANHOOD. 75 

She stretcheth out her open hand to the poor ; 

Yea, she reacheth foith her hands to the needy. 

She feareth not the snow for her household ; 

For all her household are doubly clothed. 

She maketh for herself coverings of tapestry ; 

Her clothing is silk and purple. 

Her husband is known in the gates, 

When he iitteth among the elders of the Lord. 

She maketh fine linen and selleth it, 

And delivereth girdles unto the merchant. 

Strength and honor are her clothing, 

And she will rejoice in the time to come. 

She openeth her mouth with wisdom, 

And in her tongue is the law of kindness. 

She looketh well to the ways of her household ; 

And eateth not the bread of idlenes. 

Her children rise up and call her blessed ; 

Her husband also, and he praiseth her. 

Many daughters have done virtuously, 

But thou excelleth them all. 

Favor is deceitful, and beauty is vain, 

But a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. 

Give her of the fruit of her hands, 

And let her own works praise her in the gates." 

This is, indeed, the portraiture of true woman. She is 
described by Solomon most beautifully and minutely. She 
is a lady, and one that is not afraid of work. Yea, rather 
does she delight therein. " She worketh with her hands," 
is the language, giving us to understand that she engages 
in actual manual labor. 

To-day, as perhaps never before, every lady is called 
upon to exhibit the traits of true womanhood. As man is 
called upon to show himself a man, so women is called upon 
to show herself a woman. The times demand this. Never 
has woman had a grander opportunity to make her influence 
felt in the world than now. And those who are not afraid 
nor ashamed to go forward, are being called to loudly by 
humanity at large. "In woman's nature lie the qualities 
which develop naturally into this saintliest ideal of woman- 



76 THE GUIDING STAR. 

hood, the ministrant of mercy to the miseries of man. 
Hers is the emotional, affectional hemisphere of humanity; 
and all her sensitiveness and susceptibility, her power of 
realizing by imagination the sufferings of others, her quick 
intuitive sympathy, her warm, overflowing dutifulness, her 
gentleness of touch and tenderness of tone, her gracious- 
ness of presence — are powers which fit her for this ministry 
of comfort." 

There are many women who apparently do not understand 
as they should what is expected of a woman. They do not 
seem to know what power they have for influencing gen- 
erations yet unborn. When we speak to-day of a lady, 
not a few women suppose that we mean a person of the 
fairer sex who is accustomed to dress well, and always ap- 
pear well in society. They seem to picture in their mind's 
eye an individual who does scarcely any work, but who is 
expected to be found always dressed up, sitting at the 
piano, or riding out, seeing and being seen. But this 
alone is not the picture of the true lady. This is 
not the sort of lady that Solomon was so careful to 
describe nearly three thousand years ago. The lady 
that he speaks of — the true lady — " worketh willingly 
with her hands." She is not ashamed of work. "She 
maketh fine linen and selleth it, and delivereth girdles unto 
the merchant. Strength and honor are her clothing, and 
she will rejoice in the time to come." 

What do you think the sweet word " wife " comes from ? 
It is the great syllable in which the English and Latin 
language conquered the French and Greek. I hope the 
French may some day find an expression for the idea in 
lieu of that dreadful word femtne. But what do you think 
it comes from ? The great value of Saxon words is that 
they mean something. Wife means "weaver. '' You must 



TRUE WOMANHOOD. 77 

either be housewives or housemoths, remember that. In 
a deeper sense, you must either weave men's fortunes and 
embroider them, or feed upon and bring them to decay. 
Wherever a true wife comes, home is always around her. 
The stars may be over her head ; the glow-worm in the 
dewy grass may be the fire at her feet ; but where she is 
dwells the spirit of home ; and for a noble woman it reaches 
far around her ; better than houses ceiled with cedar or 
painted with vermilion, shedding a quiet light for those who 
are houseless. This is a woman's truest place and highest 
power. 

What do we understand by "true womanhood." What 
is that by which we may know a true woman, or, if you 
please, a lady ? In reply, we would say that a true woman 
possesses several important graces, and we shall right here 
mention a few, if not all of said graces : 

A hue and loyal woman is a lady in the truest and high- 
est sense of the word. Wherever she goes, under whatever 
circumstances she may be placed, her behavior is always 
that of a true and refined lady. To all — the rich, the poor, 
the low and mean — her conversation, her every action, show 
that she is nothing less than a lady. Such a person is 
loved of all. Her presence is light and sunshine in the 
midst of any society. How great a boon, then is it to be a 
lady. 

A U ue and loyal woman will delight to know how to do any 
kind of honest wotk. 

Upon this subject we have already spoken at considera- 
ble length. But we must add a word more. There are not 
a few young girls, occasionally met with, who say they do 
not desire to know anything concerning household duties. 
They seem to look upon this kind of work as degrading, and 
not fit for their soft, delicate hands. 



78 THE GUIDING STAR. 

But we think they are greatly mistaken. They have a 
wrong idea of life. All work is honorable. And no young 
lady need be ashamed to go into the kitchen, roll up her 
sleeves, and there do the work that she may find to do. 
All young ladies, rich or poor, high or low, do well, we 
think, to imitate in this respect, the great and good Queen 
of England, or the true and loyal-hearted widow of ex-Pres- 
ident Garfield. These women are not ashamed to perform 
any of the household duties. Moreover, they train their 
daughters to work, and urge upon the mothers of both con- 
tinents the great importance of giving their daughters 
a similar training. Would there were more such women in 
the world as Mrs. Garfield and the Queen of England. 

One thing that is becoming more and more manifest 
every day is the fact that most young men who marry in 
this age do not seek those for companions who have received 
no training in house-work, or who have looked upon all such 
work as mean and degrading ; but in almost every case 
young men take unto themselves those who know how to 
perform the above mentioned duties, and who are not 
ashamed to let the world know it. Such ladies the world 
needs, and such ladies will ever be in demand. They are 
the ones who will prove themselves to be among the world's 
greatest benefactors. 

What a responsible position do the mothers of this age 
hold. Upon them depends very largely the success in life 
of their daughters. They are the ones who should teach 
their children, especially their daughters how to perform 
any of the household duties. But we are sorry to say that 
not all mothers do this. Oftentimes they foolishly reason 
thus to their daughters. "You shall never do as I did ; 
You shall lead a different life ; you shall be spared all this.'* 
The parents of their daughters toiled and labored faithfully 



TRUE WOMANHOOD. 79 

for all they have ; but, according to their reasoning, they 
desire their children to lead a free and easy life, and grow 
up entirely ignorant of any housework. How unwise ! The 
day may come when those daughters will wish they knew 
these things. They may not have such a stream of luck, or 
marry such wealth as they perhaps think. We are in the 
world, but we know not how we are going to get out, or 
what we are coming to before the time for our departure 
arrives. 

A tnie and loyal woman will make evety endeavo* at self- 
cultute. 

Not only will she strive to acquire a knowledge of house- 
hold duties, but also to increase her stock of knowledge in 
general. She will give the greatest attention possible to the 
culture of her intellectual powers. A very able writer says, 
in answer to the question, what is self-culture? "To culti- 
vate anything, be it a plant, an animal, a mind, is to make 
it grow. Growth, expansion, is the end. Nothing admits cul- 
ture but that which has a principle of life, capable of being ex- 
panded. He, therefore, who does what he can to unfold all 
his powers and capacities, especially his nobler ones, so as 
to become a well-proportioned vigorous, excellent, happy 
being, practices self-culture.'' 

Now self-culture, of course, has various branches. There 
may be self-culture in morals, in intellect, and in religion. 
Especially should every young lady cultivate these three 
branches. All are important, all shouldbe cultivated. The 
time is coming, and in fact now is, when our young women 
will be required to fill positions of honor and trust such as 
they were not permitted to occupy only a few years ago. 
Young women to-day are attending our colleges and semin- 
aries, and upon graduation they are frequently called upon 
to do service great and honorable for their fellows. 



80. THE GUIDING STAR. 

Let every young woman, therefore, feel it her duty to ac- 
quire a good education for self-culture. 

Lastly, a true and loyal woman will be unto the ivotld a ben- 
t 'factf ess, a faithful mother and a Christian. 

She will be a benefactress. By this we mean she will be 
one who is ever willing to bestow a benefit, or favor upon 
her fellow beings. If she be a loyal woman she will delight 
and seek to assist all — especially the poor, the needy, and 
the distressed. She will aid them not only by her kind 
words of advice, not only by going among them and lending 
a helping hand in the hour of need ; but she will give liber- 
erally of her means for the support and comfort of suffering 
humanity. 

She will be a faithful mother . She will make it the aim of 
her life to raise her children properly. This she will do not 
out of selfish motives ; not for the mere pleasure of seeing 
her chlidren grow up, marry well, and live in ease all the 
days of their earthly existence. No, this will not be the 
aim of the faithful mother. Her chief desire will be to do 
her utmost toward raising her offspring in such a manner as 
that they will be an honor not alone to themselves, but also 
to their country and their God. The true and loyal mother 
will exert all her powers toward training her children for 
a life of usefulness and profit. She will desire them to be a 
blessing not only to the living, but also to generations yet 
unborn. 

She will be a Christian. If she is to serve the world in the 
manner we have just stated ; if she is to exert a wholesome 
influence, not only upon her children, but also upon her 
future generations, it clearly follows that she must be a 
Christian : for none but a Christian can give the best training 
unto their children. Mark we say the best training. Others 
may give training, but all can not give the best. 

Such is the portraiture of a true woman ; such the char- 
acteristics in part of what goes to make up true womanhood* 



MOTHER'S GOOD-BYE. 



fl^SI ^ down by the side of your mother, my boy, 
ijl||^> You have only a moment, I know, 
W)l But you will stay till I give you my parting advice 



'Tis all that I have to bestow. 



You leave me to seek for employment my boy, 

By the world you have yet to be tried ; 
But in all the temptations and struggles you meet, 

May your heart in your Saviour confide. 

Hold fast to the right, hold fast to the right, 

Wherever your footsteps may roam ; 
Oh, forsake not the way of salvation, my boy, 

That you learned from your mother at home. 

You'll find in your satchel, a Bible, my boy, 

'Tis the book of all others the best ; 
It will teach you to live, it will help you to die, 

And lead to the gates of the blest. 

I gave you to God in your cradle, my boy, 

I have taught you the best that I knew ; 
And as long as His mercy permits me to live, 

I shall never cease praying for you. 

Your father is coming to bid you good-bye ; 

Oh, how lonely and sad we shall be ! 
But when far from the scenes of your childhood and youth. 

You'll think of your father and me. 

I want you to feel every word I have said, 
For it came from the depths of my love ; 

And, my boy, if we never behold you on earth, 
Will you promise to meet us above ? 



MEN WANTED. 



rJfHE great want of this age is men who are honest 
|p to the bottom, sound from center to circnmference, 
true to the heart's core. Men that fear the Lord 
^ and hate covetousness. Men who will condemn 
wrong in a friend or^foe, in themselves as well as in others. 
Men whose consciences are steady as the needle to the pole. 
Men who will stand for the right if the heavens totter and 
the earth reels. Men who can tell the truth and defy the 
world. Men who can look the devil right in the eye and 
tell him he lies. Men that neither brag nor run. Men that 
neither swagger nor flinch. Men who have courage with- 
out whistling for it, and joy without shouting to bring 
it. Men in whom the current of everlasting life runs still, 
and deep and strong. Men careful of God's honor, and 
careless of men's applause. Men too large for sectarian 
limits, and too strong for sectarian bands. Men who do not 
strive, nor cry, nor cause their voices to be heard in the 
streets ; but who will not fail, nor be discouraged, till judg- 
ment be set in the earth. Men who know their message 
and tell it. Men who know their duty and do it. Men who 
know their place and fill it. Men who know their own busi- 
ness. Men who are not too lazy too work, nor too proud to 
be poor. Men willing to eat what they have earned, and 
wear what they have paid for. Men who know in whom 
they have trusted. Men whose feet are on the everlasting 
rock. Men not ashamed of their hope. Men strong with 
divine strength, wise with heavenly wisdom, loving with the 
love of Christ. Men of God. 



CHRISTIANITY THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. 



A SERMON. 



BY REV. WILTON R. BOONE, OF SPRINGFIFLD, OHIO. 




Text, John VIII, 12. "I am the light of the Wotld" 

O man, who is at all conversant with history, will 
* deny that Christianity has exerted a mighty in- 
fluence toward causing the world to progress in mo- 
rality, civilization, and knowledge. Whatever ad- 
vancement the world has made in science, art, civilization, 
and morality is due chiefly and primarily to the wholesome 
influence of Christianity. Christianity has proved to be the 
great educator and civilizer of the world. Wherever Christ- 
ianity has gone, there knowledge and civilization have gone 
too. These statements need no verification. We have but 
to read the history of those countries where Christianity has 
been received. The remarkable change there wrought is 
proof enough of the converting and renewing power of the 
Christian religion. It has been well said that "Christianity 
has wrought wonders in human society. It has elevated 
woman from her condition as a chattel and a drudge, and 
made her the companion of man ; it has removed the brutal 
sports which disgraced Rome in the very days of her glory; 
and it has abolished serfdom and slavery from nearly all the 
civilized states of the world. It has profoundly quickened 
the spirit of humanity, checking the tyranny of princes, 
enlarging the privileges of the individual, mitigating the 



84 THE GUIDING STAR. 

horrors of war, and founding everywhere the hospital and 
asylum for the more unfortunate of our race.'' 

If one wishes to be more fully convinced of the prodig- 
ious influence Christianity has had favorable to humanity 
since its advent into the world, let him look at America, let 
him look at Europe and like countries where advancement 
has been made in science and the various branches of indus- 
try. In what other but a Christian land will be found such 
high institutions of learning ? Where else will literature and 
art be appreciated to such a great extent ? What single 
country, without Christian} 7 , can boast of her civilization, 
and especially of her literature, her agriculture, her manufac- 
tories, and her railroads ? Not one. 

I. I propose to endeavor to show as far as possible that 
the present prosperous condition of the world is due largely, 
if not altogether, to Christianity as the light of the world. 

When our Lord was here in the flesh, he declared he was 
the light of the world. But just before his departure, he 
said, i( ye (that is his church) are the light of the world." 
Perhaps this figure of speech was suggested to him by the 
natural sun that warms and illumines our earth. Those who 
heard our Lord were informed by Christ that likewise he 
had come into this world as a great and shining light — the 
source of all spiritual light and knowledge. Our Lord 
would have them know that he was the light and " sun of 
righteousness," the great central character of all history. 
Prophets, priests, and kings looked forward to that light 
ages before it appeared and shone so brilliantly. They 
viewed it by faith far away in the dim distance. To them, 
that light was everything. Upon it rested all their hopes. 
They sang of it in their poems ; they regarded it as the 
greatest boon that could possibly come into the world. And 
such, indeed, it really was ; for what, pray, would this world 



CHRISTIANITY THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. 85 

be to-day without Christianity? Had not Christ come as a 
light unto the nations of the earth, miserable would have 
been their estate. But God was mindful of our condition as 
sinners ; and he sent the light in due time. To-day, the relig- 
ion which Christ established is felt far and wide. Its healthy 
influence, moreover, continues to widen and expand, and 
nations that have made any considerable degree of prosper- 
ity in science, literature, art and commerce, are forced to 
admit that it is all owing to the renewing power of Christi- 
anity. It is recorded that a certain Prince was sent on an 
embassy to the court of the present, good Queen Victoria. 
The Prince soon noticed the prosperity with which England 
was favored, and he sought opportunity to ask the Queen to 
tell him the secret of England's greatness. Handing the 
Prince a beautifully bound Bible, she said : "This is the 
secret of England's greatness." 

Now, it is characteristic of light to shine, ' ' to beam with 
steady radiance," to penetrate its way into the dark places 
of the earth. Has not Christianity done this to a very great 
extent ? Wherever it has been received, has it not proved 
a great and an inestimable blessing ? Has it not been the 
means of the moral and religious elevation of thousands ? 
Has not every nation adopting Christianity, found that their 
only hope as a people lay in its healthy and civilizing in- 
fluence? Read history, especially that part referring to the 
state ot the world just before the advent of our Lord. 
Hardly a darker and more oppressive age can be found. 
Wickedness and immorality were almost at their climax. 
The Messiah seems to have made his appearance at just the 
right time ; for the people were almost ready to give up in 
despair under their grieveous burdens. Daily, they were 
asking, "who will show us any good ?" They had read and 
reread in the prophets that a Saviour or deliverer should 
7 



86 THE GUIDING STAR. 

come ; and they realized that there was a time when he was 
much needed. The Messiah came. In the midst of this 
darkness and superstition, he suddenly made his appearance 
as the bright and shining light from heaven. The religion 
which he came to establish was received by some, and re- 
jected by others. Opposition arose to this new religion ap- 
parently with all its power. But Christianity was a match 
for it all. This new faith came from above. God was in it ; 
and in spite of every foe, the religion of the Lord Jesus lives 
to-day. 

Now, it is remarkable how Christianity has triumphed 
during these nineteen centuries. Like a heroic general, 
destined to success, (whatever the opposition) it has marched 
on " conquering and to conquer." 

In its infancy, Christianity had but few advocates. • But 
look to-day. Behold the contrast. What a marvellous 
change ! Wherever Christianity has made its way, there 
may be seen evidence of civilization and reform. Thou- 
sands, who once sat in darkness, are to-day working with 
Christian zeal and energy for the subjugation of sin in the 
world, and the spread of the gospel among all nations. 
Consider, for instance, what is being done by our Foreign 
and Home Missions for the conversion of the world. To- 
day there are in the Protesant world between thirty and 
forty chief societies, with numberless branches, who yearly 
expend not less than £8,000,000 on missions. The Board 
of Managers, connected with the American Bible Society, 
has lately given a report concerning the progress made in 
supplying the United States with the Scriptures for the 
fourth time. Reports from auxiliary societies show that, 
by their agents, 1 1 1,906 families have been visited ; 14, 535 
of these were without the Bible, and 8, 104 were supplied, 
besides 6,944 destitute individuals. From the beginning of 



CHRISTIANITY THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. 87 

the fiscal year to Jannary 31, the colporteurs have visited 
288,718 families. Of these, 45,034 were found without a 
complete Bible in their homes, and 35,242 of them were 
supplied by sale or gift, beside 19,966 destitute individ- 
uals ; 25,810 copies of the Bible were sold, of the value 
of $46, 52 1 . 79, and 37, 336 donated of the value of $9,096.41 ; 
making a total of 163, 149 copies, the value of the same be- 
ing $55,618,17." Moreover, we are credibly informed 
that the Protestant Bible societies have distributed within 
the last fifty years, more than fifty millions of Bibles and 
New Testaments in almost 200 languages. What an im- 
mense distribution of the sacred Word of Truth ! And yet. 
the demand is greater than the supply. This is indeed 
wonderful, especially when one remembers that two copies, 
of the Bible are published every minute, night and day, the 
year round. 

Think, too, of the growth of the churches of our Asiatic 
missions. In thirty years (from 1851 to 1881) the number 
of churches in the Asiatic missions increased from 81 to 550, 
and the members from 8,035 to 42,226. What was the in- 
crease in European missions ? The churches grew from 61 
to 463, and the members from 3,241 to 47,046. What was 
the increase in all missions? The churches grew from 142 
to 1,013, and the members from 11,276 to 89,272, an in- 
crease of nearly eight hundred per cent. 

But this is not all that Christianity as the light of the 
world, has accomplished. Its mighty power is seen in a 
thousand other aspects. What, but Christianity originated 
so many institutions of benevolence and reform that are 
scattered to-day throughout the land ? What, but it, has 
influenced the world so largely, and caused it to advance so 
rapidly in the various branches of industry? Why is it, if 
it be not on account of the wholesome influence of Christi ■ 



88 THE GUIDING STAR. 

anity, that the rulers of nearly every country receive it 
themselves and encourage it irt their subjects ? Why is it, 
if Christianity be not the light of the world, that in both 
Europe and America, the majority of presidents, and teach- 
ers in the universities are Christian men ? 

Surely, these things mnst be owing to the influence of 
Christianity. It can be attributed to nothing else; especially 
when it is remembered that no such advancement has been 
made in other countries where Christianity is not regarded. 

Generally speaking, this is a Christian nation. By the 
people of this fair land, Sunday is respected as in no other 
country ; also the annual fast and Thanksgiving days. 
And right here it will be seen that great respect is had for 
Christianity. While many, it is true, have not as yet embraced 
Christianity, the number is infinitely large of those who ac- 
knowledge its mighty influence for good. 

Then again, it is significant to remember that our national 
congress, army, and navy are each provided with chaplains 
to lead in prayer, and administer spiritual food to those do- 
ing service for the nation. A like recognition of the healthy 
influence of Christianity is also seen in the various States of 
the Union — especially so in the Legislature, and in the 
schools and colleges. 

Were we to go into details concerning the great influence 
Christianity has exerted in bringing the world to its present 
moral and intellectual state, we should have to show how 
Christianity has ''elevated woman from her condition as a 
drudge ; mitigated the horrors of war ; checked the tyranny 
of princes; quickened the spirit of humanity," and abol- 
ished slavery — that barbarous traffic which, in this country- 
alone, swayed her cruel scepter for two and one half cen- 
turies. All this, and much more, would have to engage our 



CHRISTIANITY THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. 89 

attention, were we to undertake to show in toto wherein 
Christianity has been, and is, the light of the world. 

Were it possible for Christianity to be blotted out of the 
world, it would be seen in a short time how great a civilizer 
it is. This experiment, or rather, something similar was 
tried once by France. We are informed by a certain writer 
that "the French, after making the boldest experiment in 
profaneness ever made by a nation in casting off its God, and 
for a time seriously deliberating whether there should be 
any God at all ; after madly stamping on the yoke of Christ, 
and attempting to establish order on the basis of a wild and 
profligate philosophy, were obliged at length to bid an 
orator tell the absurd multitude that under a philosophical 
religion, every social bond was broken in pieces, and that 
Christianity or something like it, must be re established to 
preserve any degree of order or decency." And thus will 
it be with any nation or people that essays to abolish Christ- 
ianity from the earth. " Blessed is the nation whose God 
is the Lord." 

But there is another sense in which Christianity may be 
spoken of as the light of the world. We have been dwell- 
ing hitherto upon what may be termed the moral and intel- 
lectual influence of Christianity. 

II. Notice now, briefly, its Spit itual Influence. 

Christianity has a Spiritual influence upon the heart 
of man. As Christianity changes and lights up the 
outward world, so, too, does it change and light up the 
heart. It cleanses, it renovates, (or more properly God's 
Spirit does) and implants within the believer new desires for 
holiness and right action toward his Maker. Would you 
see the power of Christianity illustrated in a single life ? 
Look at that poor, wretched drunkard. He has indulged 
in strong drink for, lo ! these many days. Apparently, he 



90 THE GUIDING STAR. 

has not a friend in the world ; but unfortunately, he has a 
large family who are dependent upon him for the common 
necessities of life. Should you follow that man to his home 
you would see there a most affectionate, Christian wife 
whose prayers daily ascend to a throne of grace in his behalf. 
At length, after long and patient waiting, those prayers are 
answered. The husband reforms, and is induced by his 
loving wife to become a Christian. And now, what a change 
in that home where, but a short time ago, wretchedness and 
despair, poverty and want, were known ! The husband, 
wife and children now rejoice together as perhaps never 
before. How many just such instances may be cited ! 
How many homes, once sad and poverty-stricken, now beam 
with radiant gladness ! How many hearts, once burdened 
with grief and pain, now leap for joy by reason of the relig- 
ion of Jesus Christ ! 

Christianity was designed to introduce into the world joy, 
peace, and happiness. "Behold I bring you good tidings 
of great joy, " said the angel to the shepherds. Has not 
Christianity been a source of joy to the world? Has it not 
entered many dark places of the earth where sin and sorrow 
reigned with great power ? Again and again it has proved to 
be the healing balm to many who were dependent and ready 
to die by their own hands. Many have been encouraged to 
commence life anew by reason of the wholesome influence 
of Christianity. Especially has the power of the religion of 
Christ been seen and felt by many upon coming down to 
the river of death. To such who exercised faith in their Re- 
deemer, religion has been a source'of inestimable joy in the 
hour of death. They have been enabled to say with just as 
much boldness as did Paul, " O death, where is thy sting? 
O grave, where is thy victory ? " Ask those who are near- 
ing the river of death, if you would know the power of the 



CHRISTIANITY THE LiGHT OF THE WORLD. 91 

Christian religion over a redeemed soul. Question them as 
to its power to change 'the life and make it what God, in his 
wise providence, designed it should be — a life of peace and 
joy. To the oppressed and sorrowful ones of earth, Christ- 
ianity is everything. As saith the poet, 

" It makes the wounded spirit whole, 

And calms the troubled breast ; 
'Tis manna to the hungry soul, 

And to the weary rest." 

In this nineteenth century the power and progress of 
Christianity are felt and seen more than in any period since 
the apostolic age. 

"What imagination," as Dr. Haven says, "can forecast 
the conquests of 4:he next fifty years ? The leaven is 
working in every land. The old empires of idolatry 
and superstition are effete and ready, to vanish, while 
new Christian empires are born almost in a day. Every 
new discovery in nature, or invention in art, helps to 
speed the gospel. Trade, commerce, revolution, explora- 
tion all prepare the way, and herald the approach of the her- 
alds of the cross. This work of preparation has been long 
going on. Soon it will be complete, the initiatory steps 
will all have been taken ; then a universal Pentacostal sea- 
son may be expected." 




THOUGHT AND CHARACTER. 




IP HAT which distinguishes man from the brute is his 
power to think, to reason from cause to effect, to 
investigate the laws of the material world, and to 
meditate on those great moral, and spiritual truths 
which are revealed in the word of God. We find some 
sagacious animals who can be taught to do acts very sur- 
prising and wonderful, but they can never be so educated 
as to perceive the relations of truth, either in science or 
morals. Whatever may be true in the modern theory of 
development, it is certain that animal instinct has neither 
advanced nor changed in all the historic ages. The horse 
and the ox of to-day are not wiser than* their original pro- 
genitors that came to Adam to receive their names. The 
robin builds her nest in your yard-tree now, exactly like 
that which the first robin built in Eden six thousand years 
ago. The beaver builds his dam across our streams in the 
far West just as beaver dams were built across Pison, Ha- 
villa, and Gihon, those streams which watered paradise in 
the infancy of the world. Man is the only animal on earth 
who thinks consecutively, and proves by reasoning powers, 
and moral aspirations, that he is more than an animal, and 
destined to live beyond the grave. 

It is an excepted truth in mental and moral philosophy, 
that men become like the objects of their thoughts and affec- 
tions, that their intellectual and moral characters are formed 
by the things which most frequently occupy their minds. 
When a man engages with great earnestness and industry 
in any kind of secular business, excluding as much as possi- 



THOUGHT AND CHARACTER. 93 

ble all thoughts of everything else, he soon becomes known 
as a man of business mind. We hear of the scientific mind, 
the legal mind, the artistic mind, and other kinds of minds 
differentiated by objects of thought ; and not only is it true, 
that "asa man thinketh in his heart so is he,'" in real charac- 
ter, but his features are so molded by his thinking that adepts 
in the study of character can tell, with a considerable degree 
of certainty, the daily avocations of strangers by their appear- 
ance. Man sins and suffers, is degraded or exalted, be- 
comes God-like, or devil-like, is blissful or miserable, through 
thought, and according to the nature of his thinking. 

Because man becomes like the objects of his thoughts and 
affections we maintain that the Christian religion is indis- 
pensable to us if we would have the best intellectual culti- 
vation, and God-like moral character. By nature we are 
sinners, and we can not be happy in our sins, as the whole 
history of mankind testifies. We must be elevated intel- 
lectually and morally to find the bliss for which our fallen 
nature is ever panting, and to fiulfill the hopes inspired 
by the God-given possibilities we feel within us ; and for 
the purpose of this elevation, where can we find a higher 
object of thought and affection than Jesus Christ ? If it were 
possible to combine in one man all the merely human mor- 
alists of all the ages, he would not equal the "man of sor- 
rows," he would not be worthy to stoop down and unloose 
the latchet of his shoes. 




YOUNG MAN, HOLD ON. 



t^OLD on to your tongue when you are just ready to 
take God's name in vain. • 




Hold on to your hand when it is about to place that 
to your lips which brings misery and death. 

Hold on to your feet when they are about to take you into 
the place of sin. 

Hold on to your heart when evil associates seek your com- 
pany and invite you to join their revelry. 

Hold on to your good name, for it is of more value than 
gold. 

Hold on to the truth, for it will serve you well in time 
and eternity. 

Hold on to virtue. It is above all price to you at all 
times and places. 

Hold on to your good character, for it is and ever will be 
your best wealth. 



WHAT CAN I DO TO SAVE OTHERS ? 



: N my judgement no converted man or woman should 
rest satisfied until this question is finally and prayerfully 
settled in one or two ways ; either it is my duty to go 
^ to the heathen in person, or it is my duty to do the 
utmost to increase the number of those who do go and in- 
sure the success of their work. How many of those who are 
to-day hopefully saved, have ever asked themselves this sol- 
emn question — have ever considered whether God calls them 
to the foreign field or not ? Who knows ? Some of us may 
be to-day like Jonah, fleeing from the call of God, which 
says to us, " Go to Ninevah ! " Were the obligations of 
the unsaved to the saved candidly considered by every newly 
converted man or woman, and were the matter weighed as 
one of individual concern, does God call me to teach this 
Gospel to the heathen, there would be ten to one for every 
home and foreign missionary. It is not necessary to go 
abroad in order even to evangelize the heathen, but it is nec- 
essary, if called to remain at home, to build up at home a 
missionary church. If I fold my arms and regard with in- 
difference the condition of this vast bulk of the human race, 
or with practical heedlessness leave them to perish, I am 
perhaps myself yet unsaved. There is no piety in such a 
frame of mind and heart. At least one thousand million of 
souls under Papal, Pagan, and Mohammedan influence, de- 
mand immediate and earnest effort for their salvation. And 
inasmuch as a whole generation passes into the darkness of 
the grave every forty years, we have but little time to do 
all we are going to do, for a few years and we are dead, and 



96 THE GUIDING STAR. 

they are dead also — both those who are saved, and those 
who are to be saved are marching silently, but surely to the 
tomb, and the awfulunknown beyond! You who are to do 
must do quickly, or your opportunity to do is gone ; and 
every day of delay removes souls, now living, beyond our 
reach. You must choose whether God calls you to personal 
dedication, or to the work of a missionary zeal and activity 
at home. You may choose if you choose candidly, but 
choose you must, or be a traitor to your trust. 

You may, if God calls you to stay here, do just as much 
to promote the salvation of the world as though you went 
abroad, though not as directly. This last link in a chain 
is the one that is immediate^ attached to the staple, but 
every other link is equally necessary to the chain. If I am 
in my post of duty here, and am to my utmost praying, 
giving and working to fan a true spirit of missions, and save 
souls, I am contributing just as much to evangelize the world, 
as though I was the last link in the chain of agencies by 
which the Church is joined to the pagan people, and touched 
the very heathen by direct contact. The question is not, 
where am I working, but am I working, and in what spirit 
and faith ? And since most of us are doubtless not called 
to take this place as the last link, let me practically urge 
each one to do his utmost to make the Church at home a 
thoroughly missionary church. 




CAN YOU WAIT? 




NE important condition of success is waiting. There 
PXrl are P rocesses m nature, in providence, in grace, 
which can not be hurried. There are things to be 
done which not only require labor and skill, but also 
time. No human power can dispense with this element. 
There are things which can only be done by those who wait. 
The whole history of God's dealings with man in the world 
illustrate this: ''The husbandman waitethfor the precious 
fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he re- 
ceive the early and later rain." There is no other way of 
obtaining it ; he must wait. 

The physician must wait ; the disease must run its course ; 
the wound must have time to heal ; the fractured bone can 
not be made whole in a day. Time must assuage grief, and 
days and months must elapse ere the anguish of the broken 
heart is healed. So in the dispensations of God's provi 
dence, he who setteth up and casteth down, takes time to 
bring the beggar from the dunghill to the throne, and the 
monarch from the throne to the dunghill. 

Under many circumstances of trial, the question is, can 
you wait ? If you can wait, all things will come right ; if 
you can not wait, all things will surely go wrong. Job must 
wait, while afflictions beset him, while friends accused him, 
while Satan assailed him ; he must wait until God delivered 
him. David must wait while Shimei cursed, and while the 
zealous Abishai desired to go and bring the head of the 
"dead dog" who insulted the King; but David could wait, 
and did wait, until having gone forth in tears, he returned 
in grateful triumph. 



98 THE GUIDING STAR. 

In the grand unfoldings of divine providence we are con- 
stantly taught the lesson of waiting. Do we learn to wait, 
or are we constantly restive beneath the instruction ? Can 
we wait amid wrong, until God the righter of wrongs, shall 
appear in our behalf? Can we wait until lying lips are put 
to silence, until falsehood has run its race ? Can we wait 
while wrong-doers triumph, and iniquities prevail? Can 
we wait while we are misjudged, misrepresented, and mis- 
used ? Can we wait while iniquity abounds, while craft and 
fraud walk triumphant, while friends forsake us, and while 
good men, deceived and misinformed, turn from us ? Can 
we wait when friends become our accusers, and when ene- 
mies triumph over us? If we can wait with patience, we 
shall not wait in vain. He who has been the friend and 
trust of the helpless and troubled, remembers those who 
wait to know and do his will and he has a thousand ways of 
bringing judgment to light, and righting wrongs which his 
trusting children suffer. Wrong does go down, and those 
they have wronged go up ; lies perish and truth triumphs. 
The wheat and tares may grow side by side ; but the harvest 
is coming, and the angels are the reapers; and while the 
wheat goes to the garner, the tares shall perish in the flames. 




THE MISSIONARY SOCIETIES. 



l§f HE home and foreign missionary societies are the 
& great evangelizing agency of our land and country. 
Religion is no greater system then man's duty to 
God. And when we look across the many broad 
mission fields of the different countries, we believe it will be 
gratifying to us as well as a duty that we owe to the grand 
mission cause in which every Christian should be engaged. 
For we are taught that Christ was a missionary, and if we 
are his disciples, we must be missionaries too. Christ 
showed his mission work when he came from bright glory, 
and suffered and died to save poor fallen men and women ; 
that through his death and suffering, they might all have a 
right to the tree of everlasting life. 

So it is the duty of every true Christian to work to save 
human souls, and also to save men, women, and children 
from the gulf of human depravity. 

When we enter into the mission field of labor we are then 
in the Lord's vineyard, where there is plenty to do, the 
harvest is ripe, and the laborers are few. But we are call- 
ing for more laborers to come and help to aid the gospel of 
Christ, that his true word may be preached to every nation 
on the face of the globe. Let us work to Christianize and 
educate the people in the distant land* who are considered 
uncivilized ; that such persons may be taught to serve the 
true and living God, in the place of worshiping idols made 
of wood, stone, copper, and brass, and here we give the 



100 



THE GUIDING STAR. 



population of those different countries showing the numbers 
that need the gospel of Christ. 



POPULATION. 



200,000,000 

252,833,983 

50,000,000 

12,000,000 to 15,000,000 

360,000,000 to 450,000,000 

34,338,514 



Africa, 

India, 

Asia, 

Arabia, 

China, 

Japan, 

The above names are only a part of the different nations, 
who need the gospel of Christ and christian labor. Minis- 
ters, teachers, churches and schools are all greatly needed 
in those foreign countries ; and in the different parts of 
America with her 58,000,000, she needs christian labor. 




MY OWN WAY. 




NE day in London I wished to call on a friend resid- 

P)jjJ;]I)] ing in Guildford street. I did not know the way in 
that forest of dwellings, but I took a map and saw 
that from the Gower street station of the under- 
ground railway it lay southward. I accordingly took my 
seat in the train for Gower street, and quickiy arrived at the 
station. In coming from the platform to the street, I had 
lost my reckoning, for instead of turning south, I went 
straight north. I felt, however, I was going south, and no 
one could have convinced me that I was not. After going 
a considerable distance, I thought I must now inquire about 
the exact locality of the street I was in search of. I saw a 
lamp lighter busily engaged at his work, running from lamp 
to lamp, and I thought he would be very likely to know as 
well as any one I could ask. Sol said to him, " Could you 
tell me the way to Guildford street ?" 

"You are a good way from it. Go right back this street, 
go past the Gower street station, keep straight on, and then 
inquire." 

"That's odd," said I, "is not this the way?" still feeling 
I was quite right, and the lamplighter was wrong ; but he 
very patiently tried to convince me, and said : 

"If 1 you go on this way, you get away into Camden Town, 
quite the opposite direction you wish ; but go straight back, 
and you'll find your place." 

But, as the popular phrase is, "my head was turned," and 
nothing would convince me that my feelings were wrong, 

8 



102 THE GUIDING STAR. 

and the lamplighter right. I was quite sure I was going 
south." 

"Well," I said, "I can't understand it ; the way you 
point seems to me to be going away from the direction I 
wish to go, and this way I'm going seems to be right." 

The patient lamplighter had to be at his work, and had 
no time to stop and argue with one who seemed so hard to 
be convinced, so he said : 

•'Well, sir, of course, if you know better than I do, then 
it's all right. Just go on and take your own road." 

He went away I have no doubt highly amused at my 
dilemma, and I stood reasoning on what the lamplighter 
had said> and what I felt. "I wonder if he is correct? 
Does he not mean to deceive me? I feel he is wrong." 
And my feeling's prevailed over the lamplighter's arguments. 
I went on, therefore, in my own way for a considerable dis- 
tance, till I saw a policeman. "Now,'' I thought, " * I'll 
ask again." But I unconsciously put my question to him, 
letting him see in what direction I wished the sought-for 
street to be. 

" Isn't this straight for Guildford street ? " 

"Yes, just straight on, more than half a mile," said the 
policeman, who, I believe knew nothing about where it was, 
but not wishing to show his ignorance, and taking his cue 
from my question, gave me the wrong directions, and 
strengthened me in my conviction that I was going right. 

I therefore kept on my way, turning over in my mind 
the testimony of the lamplighter, and my own feeling, backed 
by the testimony of the policeman, until I got confused, and 
did not know which to believe. If I am wrong, I thought, 
every step I am taking is leading me farther and farther from 
the place, and time is precious. If I am right, it would do 
no harm to ask again. I remembered that the British Mu- 



MY OWN WAY. 103 

seum was in the vicinity of Guildford street, and would be 
better known, so I asked a respectable looking young man, 
whom I met, ' 'Which is the way to the British Museum ? " 

"Straight back the way you have come, till you reach 
Gower street, cross the Euston road, and onward, and then 
inquire." 

His answer was so straight, and his way of putting it so 
positive, and coinciding as it did in every point with the 
lamplighter's testimony, that without a moment's hesitation, 
I threw overboard the policeman's doubtful witness and my 
own feeling, and began, in no enviable frame of mind, to re- 
trace my wearied steps, and in due time I found my desti- 
nation, and thus proved the truth of the two true witnesses, 
the lamplighter and the young man, and got a good lesson 
that truthful testimony is a much safer guide than doubtful 
feelings. 

By nature, every man is going in the wrong way, for "we 
have turned every one to his own way. " Many think, that 
though not quite safe, still they are in the right way, and 
only need a little help to speed them on. A little religion, 
a little prayer, a little self sacrifice, a little reformation, and 
they feel quite comfortable — they feel they are, at least, at- 
tempting to do their duty, and if they fail it will be very 
singular. They educate themselves into this thought, until 
it becomes part of their being, and no testimony is heard 
but that w r hich confirms their preconceived idea. A faith- 
ful witness who tells the downright, honest, unvarnished 
truth, that the only way is ' to the right about," is dis- 
believed and unheeded. 

If there has not been a time in your history, where you 
have come to a stand still, to a dead halt, and throwing 
overboard your own feelings, your own preconceived notions, 
and the testimony of the majority of people around you, 



1$4 THE Q.UID/NQ SJAR. 

you have started simply anoj entirely upon the testimony of 
God- — his testimony concerning Christ as "the way '.' — his 
testimony concerning a finished work — his testimony con- 
cerning your perfect acceptance in Christ — there is grave 
reason for fearing that every step you are taking is away 
from God. You may not know the minute, the hour, day, 
or month, t>ut do know the fact} Can you say, \ Whereas 
I was blind, now I see? " 

The world, the devil and the flesh will all cheat you and 
mislead you. You have no friend but God. But he is your 
friend, a real friend of sinners, and you are one, whether 
you feel it or not. You can not trust yourself. You can 
not trust your own feelings. God can not trust you, and he 
does not now intend, but he says, " Will you trust me?" 
He has done everything to secure your confidence. He so 
loved you that he gave you Christ, who came and put away 
sin, and so made a righteous channel through which his love 
might flow. He hath sent down the Holy Ghost to tell you 
of the finished and accepted work — that "all things are now 
ready," that the door is open, the feast spread, and you are 
heartily welcome. Merely appropriate all. Do not try to 
believe, nor to feel something, but simply stand still, take 
God at his word, against every other testimony, trust Christ 
as yours, and then begin your heavenward course as a child 
of God. 

Luther, I think, used to say that Satan sometimes tempted 
him, and said, \ ! Do you feel, Martin Luther, that you are 
saved ? " 

" No," said Luther, "but I am sure of it. " 

Why ? Because he believed God's testimony, and not 
his own changing feeling. 

If you stand and look toward the sun, moon or stars, you 
do not feel that the earth moves ; you are rather inclined to 



MY WN WA Y. 105 

believe that the heavens go round the earth ; and so the 
ancients believed, but it is a mistake. We believe what we 
do not feel — the earth goes round the sun. 

" If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is 
greater." And his witness is all about his Son. 

If you persist in keeping your own way, instead of ac- 
cepting God's Christ and his salvation, God must say, 
after you reject light, Take your own way, see where it will 
end. Prov. i, 3 1 . What an end ! Away from God for- 
ever ! — the wrath of God weighing you down forever ! — the 
flames of hell torturing soul and body forever ! — but we be- 
seech you now, on the spot, before you lay down this 
paper, stand and tell God that you are wrong; tell him you 
have not been converted ; tell him you need his salvation, 
you need his Christ ; thank him for his Christ ; tell him you 
believe what he says, and this is what he says, that he "hath 
given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son." John 
v. 11. 




THE CHURCH AND THE WORD. 




hHE Church and the Bible are the centers or sources 
of the two greatest manifest moral forces in the 
world. They supplement each other. Neither 
^ could do without the other. It would be impossi- 
ble for the Church to subsist in its present form, and do 
the work which is committed to it, were it deprived of the 
Bible. On the other hand, the Bible would be without in- 
fluence or power to control human thought, if it were not 
brought to the homes and hearts of men by the agency of 
'the Church. 

The Bible is a book containing the revealed will of God, 
given by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, continued 
through many generations, and by the ministry of many 
different men. The Church is an illustration of the spirit 
and principles of the book. The Bible is the repository of 
Divine truth ; the Church is the manifestation of the power 
of Divine truth to bless and save all who really receive it. 
Both the Bible and the Church are witnesses for God, in 
the midst of a. benighted, sinful, rebellious world. 

The Bible as the repository of Divine truth, has held, all 
through the generations, the only written communication 
which has ever emanated from the court of Heaven to the 
dwellers upon this earth. Long before, the advent of 
Christ, this wonderful Book was commenced, and God 
made known His will to men, and caused it to be recorded 
in a permanent form. And since the second canon was 
closed, and the Bible has been in the hands of men as a 
complete book, it has been true to its mission. All through 



THE CHURCH AND THE WORD. 107 

the dark ages, when worldiness and corruption had well 
nigh destroyed the spiritual life and power of Christianity, 
the Bible still held the unadulterated truth of God. More 
than this, it may be said that the Bible was the means of 
awakening a backslidden Church. 

It was the Bible so read by Wickliffe, and Huss, and 
Jerome, and Martin Luther, that more than anything else, 
and more than all things else, moved these men so 
mightily, and sent them forth to battle with sin and super- 
stition. Had it not been for the Bible, their hearts would 
never have been stirred to the proclamation of the truth ; 
the Church would never have been aroused ; sin would 
never have been rebuked ; the chains of superstition would 
never have been broken ; and the world never would have 
felt the magnificent up-lift towards God and Heaven. And 
just so surely as the awakening of the past has shown the 
result of the influence of the Bible, so surely is the real 
progress of the future dependent upon the same source of 
spiritual power. There may be convulsions and revolu- 
tions and destructions without end, but there will never be 
a healthy, world-wide progress, except as the principles of 
the Bible shall prevail. All reforms and reformers who 
ignore the Bible will eventually prove to be utter and 
ignominious failures. The Bible, among all the books, is 
humanity's only hope. 

Besides, we must remember that the Bible alone, of all the 
books that have ever been written, answers all questions of 
the soul. It is affirming much, but none too much, when 
it is said that this Bible answers every problem connected 
with man's relations to time and eternity, in so far as is 
necessary for his highest well-being and happiness. Here 
we find the true significance of life, here the veil is lifted 
from the future, here life and immortality are brought to 



108 THE GUIDING STAR. 

light. The most terrible mystery of the universe, sin, is 
met with provisions for its perfect cure, while the grave 
and death are made radiant with the light of a most glori- 
ous hope. No philosophies of men have ever so appealed 
to all that is grandest and best in human nature, as this 
Book, and no other so completely satisfies the aspirations 
and questionings of our souls. 

It only needs that the Church should more and more 
conform itself to the teachings of the Bible in order to real- 
ize the sublimest moral victories that have entered the 
mind of man to imagine. The Church must have the 
purity which the Bible teaches ; it must take hold of all 
genuine reforms, and push them forward ; it must have 
more practical righteousness, integrity, honor, honesty; it 
must have a more intense sympathy with Christ for the 
conversion of the world ; it must never forget that it is 
militant, and not triumphant, that it must be more ag- 
gressive in its work of spreading the truth, and more 
aggressive in its conflict with the sin- force of this present 
age ; and above all, it must have the baptism of fire and 
the. Holy Ghost. Then, with the Bible as its standard of 
faith ana! morals, it may go forth to the conquest of this 
world. Oh that God would help the Church to come up 
to the Bible ideal, and so hasten the final advent of the 
Lord Jesus Christ ! 




SCRIPTURE LESSONS. 



To preach a gospel sermon. Preaching means — To dis- 
course publicly on religious subjects. 

The word gospel means — Glad tidings concerning Christ, 
and salvation through him, any system of religious truth or 
doctrine, which is warning against every rising evil of the 
land — for the sake of Christ our Lord. 



A sermon means a discourse or a text on scripture, ex- 
plaining the declaration of Christ which pertains to general 
good over all evil. 



By reading the Bible, we find the duty of man and wo- 
man through life under two heads. Under one is what we 
should not do, and the other one is what we must do, 
— which refers more especially to professed Christians. 
There is a certain amount of work assured to the hand of 
every professed Christian to do, something to help save the 
souls, lives and characters of other persons as Well as to work, 
to sustain their own souls and bodies. We must remem- 
ber that religion consists of not only faith alone, but faith 
and works, which do constitute the religion. 

The duty of every christian is to work to keep peace and 
union among themselves, in order that they may set that 
peaceful example, that the world may follow. 



WE TAKE THE BIBLE FOR OUR GUIDE. 

Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go 
and tell him his faults between thee and him alone; if he 
shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. 



110 THE GUIDING STAR. 

But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or 
two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every 
word may be established. 

And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the 
church ; but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be 
unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. Matthew, 
1 8th chapter, 15th, 16th, and 17th verses. 



Every person is in this world for an express purpose. 
God has given to every human a talent with human knowl- 
edge to improve that talent. And men and women who 
have improved their talent and intellect, combined with 
their education, are duty bound to use their education in 
every direction, which may be for the elevation and general 
good of their fellow man, and also to help the advancement 
of this world that it may be made better. All educators 
among men and women, should set the example in using 
their talent in trying to make good, grand, and beautiful 
the world's many wonders, so that heaven may be its ending. 

We are taught by the scriptures that one christian can 
chase a thousand sinners, and two can put ten thousand to 
flight. While this is true we can see what great power there 
is in Christianity. 




THE DUTY OF THE HUSBAND TO THE WIFE. 



fIRST, the husband should love his wife and obey 
her, just so far as she has power as a wife, especially 
over her household affairs, and never neglect the 
^ society of the wife, and should not fail to regard her 
as his equal. Let the husband esteem and adore his wife 
above all other living women, and treat her with the 
greatest of kindness ; have but very little to do with her 
household affairs, unless you are trying to advise her for 
the better ; and, as husband, always talk and act so as to 
make the wife feel that you are her nearest friend ; and 
forbid her working out from home at daily labor, unless 
she is compelled ; and as a protecting husband he will give 
his wife to understand that he stands head, and he will do 
the supporting, while she must stay at home and keep 
house, and work to save what he makes, and do her part 
of the work at home ; and he, as a good man, will keep 
her supplied with some little money, change, for the pur- 
pose of getting little notions and other small articles, that 
ladies like to purchase at times. And the husband must 
remember, too, that he can not consult a counsellor more 
deeply interested in his welfare than his true, devoted wife. 
And he should never fail to adhere to her good advice 
when he knows her to be in the right. For it's a well 
known fact that the advice of good women have saved 
thousands of men from destruction, one way or the other. 
And the good husband should, at all times, be ready to 
admonish and speak to his wife kind and consoling 
words. And if the husband happens to be a wicked, 



112 THE GUIDING STAR. 

swearing man, he should be very careful to never swear or 
make use of any improper language in the presence of his 
wife or children. The kind husband will try to avoid 
quarrels and disputes, and, if necessary, he will try to 
reason with the wife, and if he happens to get a little angry 
at times he must hold his temper from her, for the sake of 
peace in the family, and will do all in his power for the 
happiness of the wife. 




DUTY OF THE WIFE TO T^E HUSBAND. 




HE duty of the wife to the husband is, to first 
honor and obey him in all things which she knows 
J to be just and right; which she thinks will be 
pleasing to him. And when she finds her husband 
in the wrong she should admonish him, and give her good 
advice to him for the better. And the good wife should 
be watchful that nothing in her conduct or conversation 
detracts from the happiness of sweet home. She must 
greatfully reciprocate the kindness and the attention of her 
husband, and sympathize with him in all that may be 
pertaining to the happiness of man and wife. And the 
woman will be a help-mate to her husband, according to 
the will of God, and she must be a partner of his joys and 
sorrow. Let his joy be her joy, and when he sorrows she 
must sorrow, and never fail to be his comforter in 
affliction, and the chief delight of his prosperity. The 
good wife knows it to be the business of every law r ful mar- 
ried woman to strive to make their homes happy, and the 
wife shall be careful to treat her husband with all kindness, 
and it matters not how angry she may get, at times, she 
should never lose her temper, for fear she might speak 
words that would cause trouble in the family, while at the 
same time there can be peace and good will ; of course, 
when she, as a wife, knows that her husband is laboring 
each day for the support of her and her children ; and, as 
a wife, she should be very careful that she entertains with 
kindness and courtesy her husband's friends, and if she 
should see that his friends are dear to him, they should be 



114 THE GUIDING STAR. 

dear to her ; and her good sense will always prevent her 
from trying to rule her husband, for she knows that such 
conduct would be somewhat degrading to both parties ; and 
if the husband should object to his wife being away from 
home at times, and attending too often these different 
entertainments, she should quickly obey him and be con- 
tented to stay at home, in case that he may know better 
what is best for her, and that her husband may be pleased. 
The good wife should never say to her husband that she 
will go when she pleases, and where she pleases, and stay as 
long as she pleases. But still we are glad to know that 
every sensible and lawful married lady knows that such 
conduct, for a wife, is so unpleasant that it creates strife in 
the family, which may quickly throw back the large folding 
doors for a sad separation between the parties. The in- 
telligent and industrious ladies will never seek to marry a 
man for his pretty face — for beauty itself will be no comfort 
to the suffering wife in time of need; and every lady and 
gentleman knows that beauty resembles the bright bloom- 
ing sunflower. But very soon it fades and is cut down, to go 
like the withered grass. And if the wife meddles with her 
husband's affairs, let the same be in the way of good 
advice. 




THE PASSION OF LOVE. 




:E notice that there are two kinds of love, one is 

is spiritual, and the other temporal. Spiritual love 

was revealed to man's heart through the shed 

^ <L ^ S ^ 'J blood of Christ our Lord, which compels both 
men and women to strive to live in accordance with 
the will of God. Charity for all and malace toward 
none. You will love your neighbor as yourself. Temporal 
love is created by human nature. Persons will love their 
husbands and wives, fathers, mothers, and children, while 
there are other persons without love for husband and wife, 
and other relation, but neither have more affection for out- 
side friends, and great love for strangers on the first sight. 

But we find that love in the more common acceptation of 
the term is a bond of attachment between individuals of the 
different sexes, and is the emotion that is raised by qual- 
ities in the object which excites the highest pleasurable sen- 
sation ; it is the ardent affection of man for woman — the 
affection of woman for man. Love is the soul of virtue; 
the divinity that stirs within man ; the passions and the 
affections of the human minds, were all designed for good. 
But I believe that love passions are little bad for some peo- 
ple, when one person has to wag the whole burden for both 
parties, and at the same time we must remember that love 
has a language of i.ts own, and will thank no book of eti- 
quette for a lesson, or any outside person for advice. If 
the lady will be particularly modest in all her ways, and the 
gentleman will only be manly and sincere in all his word and 
conversations to her, they will appreciate and understand 



116 THE GUIDING STAR 

each other, without danger of making any mistakes on the 
part of their love. So I am forced to believe that a woman 
makes a mistake, and a large o\\<z too, when she depends 
upon the love she has for the man to carry her through life, 
because the gentleman whom she might choose to be her 
wedded husband, by the way of love, the same man might 
prove himself as nothing but a drunkard with a demoralized 
character, and subject to all bad habits ; or he might prove 
to be a gentleman of integrity and sobriety, and worthy of 
a good, honest wife. From the above facts, we go on to 
show that love is only of itself, especially on the part of the 
woman ; for she can love the man all she wants to, and as 
hard as she pleases. But just her love for him alone, will 
never furnish her a house for shelter, and provide for her 
food and raiment. Let the unmarried woman be careful to 
first seek the love of an honest, sober, intelligent, industri- 
ous and peaceable gentlemen to be her wedded husband for 
life, and if successful, there the lady shall center her affec- 
tion. 

And the gentleman on the other hand should first seek 
and find the lady to be honest hearted, virtuous, intelligent, 
and an industrious christian lady, before he should be too 
hasty about centering his affection upon her as his companion 
for life. And let us remember too that true love is one of 
the highest attributes that dwell within the human heart. 




HOPE ON. 



BY ERIC. 




fprfHE future seems so dark, O Lord 
'Up My feet have grown so weary, 

That sometimes in despondent hours 
I feel that I may fail to reach, 
The land where light, and joy, and peace] 
Bloom as never-fading flowers. 

My heart then trembles with its fear ; 
It hardly dares to lift a glance 

Up from the rough, and stony road 
On which its dust-stained feet have pressed. 
These long, sad, weary toilsome years, 

Bearing its heavy, crushing load. 

And yet the distant past recedes, 

Its scenes and hills grow dim and faint ; 

Much of the road is journeyed o'er, 
Much of the toil has been endured ; 
It will not do to languish now, 
Push on, my soul and fear no more. 

My soul continues marching on, 

Through vale, o'er moorland drear and waste 

Each' day the blest assurance gives 
That nearer, nearer is the end 
Where full salvation shall be given, 

Where my Redeemer ever lives. 



ENTERING INTO MARRIED LIFE. 




:E are satisfied that every intelligent person be 
lieves, and knows too, that an engagement to 
marry is a solemn contract between two persons 
who have plighted their troth to each other. 
Christian men and women should never fail to first consult 
the Lord in regard to marrying, as to whether they should 
accept of such a lady or gentleman to be their husband or 
wife. 

Some people are quick to love on first sight, and hasty 
about getting married, and often marry without ever 
knowing or trying to find out anything concerning the prin- 
ciple and general reputation of each other, as to whether 
she or he would be suitable persons for husband or wife ; to 
join hearts with in holy wedlock by law for life ; and often 
the case by not being well enough acquainted with each 
other. A short time after marriage, trouble enters the fam- 
ily circle, and the first answer is, I am decived. The man, 
or the woman is not just who I take them to be, but some- 
times quick love and hasty marriage almost on the first sight 
proves true, and the parties live w r ell and enjoy a happy mar- 
ried life. But remember too that it is only throwing away 
time and money to spend any longer than one year in court- 
ship. All you want is to be well acquainted and make your- 
selves perfectly satisfied in every respect on both sides, so 
that when you do make your jump, you may light on the 
right side. And we believe too that before man and wo- 
man shonld enter into holy wedlock for life, under the pas- 
sion of love, they should carefully consider the matter over, 
and at the same time seek to know the ways and disposition 
of each other, in order that neither one will make a mis- 
take. 



MY BROKEN-WINGED BIRD. 



pOR days I have been cherishing 
A little bird with broken wing. 
I love it in my heart of hearts ; 
To win its love I try all arts ; 
I call it by each sweet pet name 
That I can think its fear to tame. 
My room is still and bright and warm ; 
The little thing is safe from harm. 
If I had left it where it lay 
Fluttering in the wint'ry day, 
No mate remaining by its side, 
Before nightfall it must have died. 
It sips the drink, it eats the food ; 
Plenty of both all sweet and good. 
But all the while my hand it flies, 
Looks up at me with piteous eyes ; 
From morn till night, restless and swift, 
Runs to and fro, and tries to lift 
Itself upon its broken wing, 
And through the window-pane to spring. 

Poor little bird ! Myself I see, 
From morn till night in watching thee. 
A Power I can not understand 
Is sheltering me with loving hand ; 
It calls me by the dearest name, 
My love to win, my fear to tame ; 
Each day my daily food provides, 
And night and day from danger hides 
Me safe ; the food, the warmth, I take, 
Yet all the while ungrateful makej 
Restless and piteous complaints, 
And strive to break the kind restraints. 



REPORT OF BAPTISTS AND METHODISTS OF 
THE UNITED STATES. 



METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

Itinerant Ministers, 12,507 

Local Preachers, - - - - - 12,106 

Lay Members, - 1,724,420 

METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, SOUTH. 

Itinerant Ministers, - - - - - 4,011 

Local Preachers, -__..__ 5,864 

Lay Members, ----- - 850,811 

EVANGELICAL ASSOCIATION CHURCH. 

Itinerant Ministers, - - - - 926 

Local Preachers, - - - - - - 619 

Lay Members, ----- - 117,027 

UNITED BRETHREN CHURCH. 

Itinerant Ministers, - - - - - 2,196 

Local Preachers, 

Lay Members, ------ 157,835 

UNION AND AMERICAN CHURCH. 

Ministers, - 112 

Local Preachers, ------ 40 

Lay Members, - - - - - - 3, 500 

AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL, ZION CHURCH. 

Itinerant Ministers, - -;■--- 2,000 

Local Preachers, - - - - - 2,750 

Lay Members, ___-_- 300,000 

COLORED METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

Itinerant Ministers, ----- 638 

Local Preachers, - - - - - . 683 

Lay Members, - - - - - . 125,000 



THE GUIDING STAR, 



121 



AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

Itinerant Ministers, ----- 1,832 

Local Preachers, - 9,760 

Lay Members, --.--'- 391,044 

GRAND TOTAL OF EPISCOPAL METHODISTS IN THE UNITED STATES. 

Churches, ------ 17,896 

Ministers, --_-._ 24,222 

Local Preachers, ----- 31,823 

Members, _;_•_--•- 3,669,637 



A REPORT OF THE NUMBER OF THE BAPTIST DENOMINATION 
OF THE UNITED STATES, FOR 1 883. 



Churches, 
Ministers, 
Members 

Churches, 
Ministers, 
Members, 

Churches, 
Ministers, 
Members, 

Churches, 
Ministers, 
Members, 

Churches, 
Ministers, 
Members, 



REGULAR BAPTIST. 



MISSSONARY BAPTIST. 



FREE WILL BAPTIST.. 



SEVENTH DAY BAPTIST. 



SIX PRINCIPAL BAPTIST. 



24,794 
15,401 

2,133,044 
1,090 

888 
40,000 

1,485 

1,086 

76, 706 

87 

103 

8,606 

20 
17 

275 



122 THE GUIDING STAR. 

TOTAL NUMBER OF BAPTIST CHURCHES AND MEMBERS OF THE 
UNITED STATES. 

Churches, - - - - . - - 27,476 

Ministers, # - - . - ■ 17,687 

Members, ------ 2,258,350 



GRAND TOTAL OF ALL CHURCHES OF EVERY DENOMINATION OF 

THE UNITED STATES, AND TOTAL NUMBER OF ALL 

MEMBERS OF SAID CHURCHES OF THE UNION. 

Churches, ------ 95>3 2 3 

Ministers, - - . 76,906 

Members, ------ 9,982,058 




HUSBAND AND WIFE COMBINED. 



1 



Tg^^ST 1 



t^FTER the marriage of man and woman, according 
if/ to Scripture, they became one flesh, and are duty 
m§ bound to work for each others' interest and pros- 
perity. And each one will try to do all in his or her 
power to keep that vow, which they made in the presence 
of God and man — to live together in holy wedlock as man 
and wife — to comfort and cheer each other in sickness and 
in health, so long as they both shall live. And if either 
husband or wife does all within his or her power to keep 
their marriage vow, and at last have to break their vow for 
protection, they can not be held responsible for the viola- 
tion of the marriage law upon that one point. For it is 
intended that every person should protect themselves from 
harm and danger. (But they both as husband and wife 
should make up and return, trusting in the Lord, to be 
united again in union, with more and greater love for each 
other than they had before, and to avoid the dark clouds of 
rolling troubles from entering the family circles.) Let the 
husband and wife be careful to obey, and so manage to 
treat each other with the greatest of kindness in every re- 
spect. They should entertain each other with just as much 
attention and courtesy as they would a strange lady or a 
strange gentleman. And another great advantage to the 
husband and wife is, to keep family troubles forever locked 
up in their own house. And by observing the above rules 
they will see the advantage in the coming future. And 
the husband, who truly loves his wife, and she proves true to 
him, he will earnestly labor for her comfort, happiness and 



124 THE GUIDING STAR. 

pleasure in this life. And if a Christian gentleman, he will 
strive, spiritually, for her joy and everlasting happiness in 
that better life to come — in Heaven. And the good wife 
will not fail to do likewise for her husband, which goes to 
show that true love is that holy passion which God has 
implanted in the human heart. 

And to substantiate all the above facts, which I have 
written in this book, concerning the duties of the married 
and the unmarried people, please take your Bibles and 
turn to the 5 th chapter of the book of Ephesians, com- 
mencing at the 2 1 st verse and read to the last verse, which 
will tell the true, binding story of the whole matter. 
The 28th verse says: "So ought men to love their wives 
as their own bodies." And the 22nd verse says: 
" Wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands as 
unto the Lord." 

If hundreds of people, both married and single, young 
and old, could only be governed by the above rules, which 
are contained in this book, pertaining to the married sub- 
ject mainly, there would be no more applications to the 
courts of the country for divorces — for there would be no 
more parting of husbands and wives, until death parted 
them. 

And to the unmarried men and women, who are expect- 
ing to take to themselves a life-time suiter some day, be 
slow to speak and quick to think, and give yourselves 
plenty of time to court and study. 




CLOSE OBSERVATIONS. 




OON after the first railway was built on Long Island, 
an old Dutch lady, who had never seen or ridden in 
a steam-car, told her daughter one bright morning, 

*4f* she thought she would take a ride on the road, just 
to see how the thing worked. Accordingly, she went, and 
after haviug ridden out several miles, returned much pleased 
with her trip. In reply to her daughter's inquiry, " Well, 
mother, what did you see ? " she said, ' ■ O nothing much but 
a haystack, and that was goin' the other way." 

Now, my young friends, you are disposed to laugh at this 
answer of the old lady, but do you know that there are 
a great many people who travel through this world and 
never sec anything much except haystacks, and they are 
"going the other way ? '' 

I am going to talk with you a few moments concerning 
the importance of cultivating, early in life, the habit of close 
observation — the habit of noticing things around you with 
thoughtfulness. 

I said, a short time since, to one of my pupils, a young 
lady who would graduate at the close of the term, who is a 
good scholar. " How long have you occupied that room of 
yours in the boarding-hall ?" 

" Nearly three years.'' 

" It has one large window, has it not, with large panes of 
glass ? " 

" How many panes of glass are there in the window ? " 

She was surprised that she did not know. 

'■ There are many trees in our school grounds, most de- 
ciduous, and a very few evergreens. Among those immed- 



126 THE GUIDING STAR. 

iately around the school buildings are the fir or pine more 
abundant?" I asked ; and again she was surprised to find 
that she did not know. She will not soon forget the object 
lesson. 

When I first began to teach school in the country, I said 
to a bright boy, one pleasant spring morning, who had a 
long mile to come to school every day. " Well, my young 
man, what did you see this morning on your way to school ? " 

" Nothing much, sir." 

" I said, ''To-morrow morning I shall ask you the same 
question." 

The morning came, and when I called him to my desk, 
you would have been surprised to hear how much he had 
seen along the road — cattle of all sizes and colors ; fowls of 
almost every variety ; sheep and lambs, horses and oxen ; 
new barns and houses, and old ones ; here a tree blown 
down, and yonder a fine orchard, just coming out into full 
bloom ; there a field covered over with corn or wheat ; here 
a broken rail in the fence ; there a wash-out in the road ; 
over yonder a pond, alive with garrulous geese and ducks ; 
here he met a carriage, and there a farm-wagon ; and not 
only had he seen all these and many more things in the 
fields, and by the wayside, but looking up had noticed 
flocks of black-birds going north to their summer home. 




GOD IS LOVE. 




flfHE finite mind can not comprehend the full meaning 
teg of those three words — ''God is love." But it is 
7 our privilege, as well as our duty, to study the at- 
tributes of God, and the relation in which he stands 
God is eternal — an uncreated source of 
wisdom and power, from which flow streams of felicity to 
gladden the hearts of angels and the inhabitants of the earth. 

The grand object which love proposes to accomplish is 
happiness. All the attributes of God are constantly opera- 
ting to convince us that he is love, and to prove his match- 
less love for the happiness of the human family has given 
the most affecting and impressive display of his true charac- 
ter and will, by sending his well beloved Son into this world. 
Therefore, we rejoice that God has not left us in the dark, 
but has given us a divine revelation in which we can acquire 
a knowledge of his true character and the love he has for the 
children of men. The apostle says, ft Herein is love : not 
that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son 
to be a propitiation for our sins. " In this was manifested the 
love of God toward us, because that God sent his only be- 
gotten Son into the world, that we, through him, might live. 
If God so loved us we ought also to love him. 

We are taught in the Scriptures to be imitators of God, 
and how can we imitate him unless we know something of 
his true character ? If the love of God flows into our hearts 
we shall know him, for ' ' every one that hath this love is 
born of God and knoweth God." 

The Saviour taught his disciples to be perfect, even as 
their Father in heaven is perfect, herein is our love made 



128 THE GUIDING STAR. 

perfect, for we have known and believed the love God 
hath for us. We may not be able to measure the length 
and breadth, heighth and depth of God's love, but we can 
feel and realize that he is love. If we love our enemies, 
and do good to them who hate us, and pray for them who 
despitefully use and persecute us, we may be called the 
children of God ; for " he maketh the sun to rise on the evil 
and on the good, and sendeth the rain on the just and the 
unjust." 

The pure love of God, does not consist of a few transient 
emotions and fruitless wishes to do others good, but is a 
substantial and ever-active principle, ready to communicate 
happiness to every intelligent being. " Love suffereth long 
and is kind ; Love envieth not, vaunteth not itself, doth not 
behave unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily pro- 
voked, thinketh no evil." Love worketh no ill to his 
neighbor. Love is the fulfilling of the law. Dear reader, 
if we possess this love we may know that we have passed 
from death to life, for "love is of God, and they that love 
not knoweth not God, for God is love." 

" Wonderful, wonderful lov,e ! 
Wonderful, wonderful love ! 
To rescue and save from death and the grave, 
And bring us to heaven above. 




UNFAITHFUL SHEPHERDS. 




' ' Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock. 
To feed the church of God which He hath purchased with His 
otun blood." 

*H what are the shepherds doing? 
My sheep are wandering about 
With none to look after their goings, 
No one to seek them out. 

My sheep are starving and dying, 
On the mountains bleak and bare, 

Andj:he tender lambs are crying, 
For food and shelter there. 

The wolves have come in amongst them 
And scattered them out in the cold, 

And they look to you, oh, ye shepherds, 
To bring them back to the fold. 

Arise ! my shepherds ! awaken ! 

To the needs of your suffering flock, 
And feed them with ''bread from Heaven/* 

And with honey " out of the rock." 

They have often heard you tell them 
Of a Saviour to save from all sin, 

But they've waited long for His coming, 
Still hungry and thirsty within. 

Oh lead out your people, my shepherds 

Into the fulness of joy to-day, 
The Saviour is willing to bless you, 

Oh hear his sweet call and obey ! 



130 THE GUIDING STAR. 

Plunge into the fountain of cleansing, 
That washes away every stain, 

Accepting the great salvation 

Through faith in the blood of the Lamb. 

Be filled with the love of Jesus, 
Receive the anointing within, 

Rise up in your power and proclaim Him 
A Saviour that saves from all sin. 




THE SILENT INFLUENCE 



OF NATURE AND OF MAN. 



E N these days of advanced civilization, every person is 
well aware of the fact that the pulpit, the lecture-plat- 

i form, and the printing press wield over us a mighty in- 
"^ fluence. Of these we do not now intend to speak, but 
shall confine our remarks to these silent influences which too 
frequently escape our notice. How often do we go through 
life with our senses unobservant ! How often do we harden 
our hearts against the silent voices that would woo us to 
"the good, the beautiful, and the true ! " Yet, the mind 
awakes to the teachings of silent influence, in the words 
of the myriad minded Shakespeare, finds " tongues in trees, 
books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good 
in everything." 

To the majority of mankind, there are thousands — nay, 
millions, of things in this beautiful world of ours, which ap- 
pear to have been made to no purpose. But have they no 
mission ? Did God really make anything in vain. They 
speak to us every day ; but not with an audible voice. They 
enable us to read plainly that, " God is love ;" yet upon 
their surface we can see neither letters nor words. In the 
stillness of the midnight hour, when human feet have ceased 
to tread the earth, if we look out upon the starry heavens, 
and view those luminous bodies which have stood for ages, 
and engaged the attention of the best mind, they will exert 
an influence upon us that will cause man to look up ''from 
nature to nature's God." 



132 THE GUIDING STAR. 

How great the truth uttered by David ! ' The heavens de- 
clare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handi- 
work. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night 
showeth knowledge." When we consider the moon — that 
silver queen of night, estimated to be 240,000 miles away — 
we are apt to think that its mission is only to shed light 
upon the earth. This is not all it does. For when we think 
of its magnitude and splendor, we are also led to think of 
him who made the greater and the lesser lights. Well may 
the poet beautifully sing : 

"The stars are lighted in the skies, 

Not merely for their shining ; 
But, like the look of loving eyes, 

Have meanings worth divining. 

The dew falls nightly, not alone, 

Because the meadows need it, 
But on an errand of its own, 

To human souls that heed it. 

Thus nature dwells within our reach, 

But tho' we stand so near her, 
We still interpret half her speech, 

With ears too dull to hear her. " 

Whenever we visit an art gallery, and behold some beau- 
tiful pictures on exhibition, we are naturally influenced to 
think of the artist. We seem to have the curiosity to know 
who painted it — who possessed the genius to portray such 
a lovely scene on canvas. So, too, is it when we behold 
the wonderful works of God, the Great artist. The work of 
a skillful artist is beautiful to look upon ; but it is as nothing 
when contrasted with the work of God. Generally, the 
production of an artist is noticed in all its parts at the first 
or second examination, and ever after appears common to 
the observer. But not so with the works of God. In all 
his works we see that which does not appear in art. Every 
time we look at it, we behold something new, grand, beau- 
tiful, and sublime. 



SILENT INFLUENCE OF NATURE AND OF MA A. 133 

" The heavens," in the most emphatic manner, " declare 
the glory of God." Every star has a voice. 

In reason's ear they all rejoice, 

And utter forth a glorious voice ; 
Forever singing as they shine, 

The hand that made us is divine." 

Let us now direct our thoughts to some of the silent in- 
fluences that we find still nearer — influences which are no 
less powerful in inciting us to deep meditation. Here below, 
nature, always pleasing, appears with peculiar attraction. 
What, for instance, is more beautiful to behold than the 
opening spring, when everything assumes a new and joyous 
aspect ? A grander and more lovely scene was never pre- 
sented to the natural eye. Then it is that all nature is joy- 
ously arrayed in new and gorgeous apparal. Every moun- 
tain, with every volcano, storm, tempest, tree, and flower 
— all show forth the wisdow, power, and goodness of God. 
Each seems to have a message from the Creator to deliver 
— a message, not spoken by lips, but which is read upon 
the very surface of things. The delicate flower that blos- 
soms and blooms in the field, with its exquisite beauty and 
form, its freshness and its smell, seems to speak to us con- 
tinually in its silent way, and tells us, "There is a God." 

" Day by day, and hour by hour, 

As we journey here below, 
Every twig and branch and flower, 

Tell us they their author know. 

What a lesson here is taught us 
Even by a violet blue ! 

God hath made it, yes, to teach us 
We have all some work to do." 

If we take a single, leaf from the forest, and compare it 

with another that seems precisely like it, we shall find that 

the two are not alike, but entirely different. It is said 

that God is a " God of vanity." No two things seem to 

have been made exactly alike by him. 
10 



134 THE GUIDING STAR. 

Some one, in pointing out the wisdom of God, has said 
that, " If we take a single drop of water in mid-summer 
from a pool in an exposed position, and place it under a high 
magnifying power, while to the naked eye it may appear 
perfectly clear and pure, yet, under the glass it may appear 
a grand zoological garden ; or, rather, as the Psalmist 
would say : ' 'a grand and wide sea, wherein are things creep- 
ing, innumerable, both small and great beasts." In this 
miniature sea, as in the great deep, we find animals that feed 
upon vegetable substances alone, and those also that feed 
upon other animals; and if Ave watch their movements for a 
short time, we shall see an even greater activity than is man- 
ifested among higher orders. Thus we see that the micro- 
scope brings us into more intimate relation with things im- 
mediately about us, opens our eyes to beauties before un- 
dreamed of, and, by its mighty yet silent influence, gives us a 
knowledge of not only the infinity of little things, but also 
points to a being whose power is unlimited, and whose wis- 
dom is supremely great. 

Mr. Spurgeon, the great London preacher, says, ' ' there 
is a voice in every gale, and a lesson in every grain of dust 
it bears. Sermons glisten in the morning on every blade of 
grass, and homilies fly by you as the sere leaves fall from 
the trees. A forest is a library, a corn-field is a volume of 
philosophy, the rock is a history, and the river at its base 
a poem. Go thou who hast thine eyes opened, and find les- 
sons of wisdom everywhere — in the heavens above, in the 
earth beneath, and in the waters under the earth." 

But not only does nature exert a silent, yet powerful influ- 
ence ; man, the noblest work of God, is continually exercis- 
ing an influence either for good or evil. Every human being, 
old or young, literate or illiterate, carries with him a moral 
atmosphere, which is breathed by those he meets and serves 



SILENT INFLUENCE OF NATURE AND OF MAN. 135 

to mold their character. The world has never seen the man 
who could say at the close of his earthly career, that he had 
not influenced his fellow-creatures in some way — either for 
good or for evil. As Paul says, " none of us liveth to him- 
self." 

The extent of man's influence is incalculable. Not even 
death destroys it ; for it sends its healthful glow across the 
dark river through the eternal years of our immortality. ' ' It 
continues to operate after man has mouldered back to dust, 
and his name has been forgotten. Like the forces of nature, 
it is often hidden and obscure ; but it holds and shakes the 
world.'' Well may one say, " the aroma of it fills all the 
atmosphere ; its doctrines distill like the gentle dew ; or, 
like the small rain on the mown grass, its lines go out 
through all the earth, and its words to the end of the world ; 
there is no speech or language where its speech is not heard. " 
Whatever a man does, or thinks, or feels, even in solitude, 
has an effect upon the world. For, in the first place, it 
affects himself and his own character; and that character 
must influence, in some manner or degree, ail with whom 
he comes in contact. 

Every action and look has a voice, and that voice is 
heard. Deeds are the index of the soul. They proclaim 
what is within. The eye sees it, and the memory recalls it. 
Its influence enters the soul and becomes a part of the very 
being. If it is good, it blesses ; if evil, it destroys. Words 
may be forgotten, but examples never. How often has a 
look or a gesture left impressions which the flight of years 
could not efface ! A cheerful countenance carries a gleam 
of sunshine into' the darkest alley ; while a sad face throws 
a shadow over those who pass it, even on a crowded thor- 
oughfare. "The impressions which a man thus receives 
from those with whom he comes in contact, are among the 



136 1 HE GUIDING STAR. 

factors which go to make up the aggregate of his own char- 
acter. That character impinges upon, and helps others ; 
and their's, others ; and, so on, for ever. It is impossible 
for any human being, however wise, to justly estimate the 
extent and influence of a single individual. Only Omnis- 
cience can know how much one good act of an upright man 
may affect the character and destiny of his fellow creatures. 

Now there are many ways in which silent influence is ex- 
erted by man. An influence of some kind is exerted by the 
simple act of walking along the street. We can not look 
each other into the face without leaving an impression which 
will influence our future lives to a great degree. ' ' Actions, " 
it is often said, " speak louder than words." And how 
true ! Little dcwe realize the power — the great power of 
our actions and our deeds. Their power is felt far and wide 
nay, their influence reaches from the rivers to the ends of 
the earth. 

Some one has said, " you may build temples of marble, 
and they will perish ; you may erect statues of brass, and 
they will crumble to dust ; but he who works upon the hu- 
man mind, implanting noble thoughts, and generous im- 
pulses, is rearing structures that shall never perish. He is 
writing upon tablets whose material is indestructible, which 
age will not efface, but will brighten, and brighten* to etern- 
ity." 

Every day, a mother is exerting an influence upon her 
child. That influence is for good or evil. She little thinks 
that, when perhaps she is not Saying a word, that child is 
watching her movements about the house, and being influ- 
enced by the very expression which her countenance bears. 
As the mother is, so the child is apt to be. A very little 
boy once did wrong, and was sent, after being corrected by 
his mother, to ask the forgiveness of his heavenly Father. 



SILENT INFLUENCE OF NATURE AND OF MAN. ]*7 

His offense was passion. Anxious to hear what he would 
say, his mother followed to the door of his room. In lisp- 
ing accents she heard him ask to be made better — never to 
be angry again. And then, with child-like simplicity, he 
added : "Lord, make ma's temper better too." 

" Parents exert a vast amount of influence upon their 
children without speaking a word. They teach by their 
example in a most powerful way. They can scarcely do 
anything which has not an effect upon their children. They 
may teach well in wotds, but unless they themselves do as 
they teach, it will be of very little use." 

Silent influence, we have said, may be exerted in mani- 
fold ways. If a gentleman happen to be out on the street 
late at night, and on his way home, he perchance meets a 
suspicious character, whom he has every reason to believe 
intends to rob him, or take his life. The best thing for that 
man to do as the enemy approaches, is nothing. Let 
him stand perfectly erect, with his right hand in his bosom, 
as though he were about to draw therefrom a pistol. His 
dreaded enemy will then flee from him ; and by this simple 
act, without uttering a word, he will find that he has saved 
his life from the hands of a brutal murderer. 

All this may seem trivial, strange. But it is a fact, which 
is constantly being proved in every day life. Not a great 
while ago, there happened a good illustration of the powerful 
silent influence in this respect. In the State of Massachu- 
setts, a robber had secreted himself in the chamber of a most 
respectable and refined lady. The lady, who was without 
any weapon of defense, was frightened almost to death. 
What was she to do ? If she attempted to resist in the least, 
probably it would have cost her her life. And so, without 
uttering a word, or showing any fear, she went at once to 
a closet in her room, pretending to get therefrom something 



138 THE GUIDING STAR. 

in the shape of a pistol. As luck would have it, she saw what 
resembled a large pistol, and, approaching the midnight 
intruder, pointed it at his head. The man was completely 
taken by surprise. He had no thought of a woman exhib- 
iting such boldness. Thinking his life was in danger, he 
immediately ran. The lady followed, all the time pointing 
the suspected pistol at the man. We may well imagine the 
happiness of that lady upon her return to her chamber to 
rest. 

Were we to mention the many like instances in which 
silent influence has proved a power, this article would swell 
to a large volume. Here, there, everywhere its wonderful 
power is exercised and felt. We may not always be con 
scious of its operation ; we may not understand the laws by 
which it acts ; but it goes on, nevertheless, bringing about 
its astonishing results. If men, in general, could only re- 
alize half the power there is in silent influence — if they, like 
the brave lady of whom we have just spoken, could always 
show* a fearless and courageous spirit, during such critical 
times, there would be less occasion for fearing the most out- 
rageous characters who may cross our path. 

We have said, man is always exerting an influence upon his 
fellows either for good or evil. He must exert an influence of 
some kind. So long as he lives on the earth — aye, and even 
after death — he will continue to influence in some way those 
with whom he was accustomed to associate. Though dead, 
yet will he speak. His words, his deeds, his actions will 
live. With a voice, louder (so to speak) than seven peals of 
thunder, he will still speak to the sons of men, that silent 
influence, so mysterious in its operation, so sure in effecting 
its mission, will still go on, and on, and on, helping to mould 
and shape the life and character of those who yet survive the 
dead. Who does not feel that he is influenced largely by 



SILENT INFLUENCE OF NATURE AND OF MAN. 139 

the life, (the noble life) of that champion defender of human 
rights — Charles Sumner ? The example of such men lives. 
Their influence and power are felt throughout the known 
world. Their memory can never die. "On the record of 
the grandest movement of the age, culminating in the do- 
minion of right over wrong, in the liberation of millions 
from thraldom, and in the establishment of freedom over 
this broad continent, his name will ever stand conspicuous." 

"The power of a great life," says George Boutwell, 
" spreads far beyond the knowledge of names, and is trans- 
mitted to generations that have no means of tracing their 
influence to their source. These influences become woven 
into the civilization, literature, and politics of nations, con- 
trol their fortunes, shape their destinies, and work out good 
or evil results of the most important character." 

Can the influence of such men fail to accomplish good in 
the world ? Can their noble deeds for humanity be forgot- 
ten? Can they fail to exert an influence for good even 
though they be numbered with the dead ? Never ! Their 
influence must live. It can not die ? 

Some one has said, "example is the highest moral influ- 
ence. What we do, will accomplish a hundred fold more 
than what we say. A good man is a living law to his asso- 
ciates. If he can never speak in public, his example is 
worth more for truth and virtue than anything he can do by 
mere exhortation." How true ! Many men there are in 
the world to-day, who are little known by their words and 
public deeds, but they are doing much good by their ex- 
ample. Their actions speak louder than their words. A 
good illustration of the truth of this saying, is given in the 
words of another. He says that " in a certain community, 
there once lived a man who was an infidel in his sentiments. 
He was subtile in disposition, and could embarrass most 



140 THE GUIDING STAR. 

men that encountered him. But there was one man 
that would never dispute with him. This was a plain, but 
devoted and consistent christian. His life was a bright focus 
of vital goodness, and it had more power upon this wicked 
man than any other sort of artillery that could be brought 
against him. He was often heard to say that the holy life 
of this man, was the only thing that gave him trouble. His 
daily walks had such an influence upon him, that he was 
finally led to have faith in the reality of the religion of Jesus 
Christ." 

Now, there are hundreds of cases similar to this in which 
the silent influence of one man has proved a great power 
for good. The lives of such men are always worthy of im- 
itation. These lives should remind us that, 

"We can make our lives sublime. 
And departing, leave behind us, 
Footprints in the sands of time." 

A great many people in this world are influenced, to a 
great extent, by dreams and midnight visions. If they hap- 
pen to dream of dying, or meeting with some fearful acci- 
dent, they will not go out of the house during the whole of 
the next day, for fear that their dream will come true. 
Now, while it must be admitted that sometimes dreams do 
turn out nearly or quite as they were dreamed, there is, 
nevertheless, no just reason for persons to allow themselves 
to remain in constant fear, and often neglect the perform- 
ance of their daily duties. People, as a rule, are too super- 
stitious in these days. They can be influenced more or less 
by any fancy of the mind. If they see anything white at 
night, in the form of man, they declare it is nothing less 
than a ghost. 

On the south coast of ©England, many years ago, there 
lived a widowed lady, and her children in a very large, old- 
fashioned house. She had many servants, and every luxury 



SILENT INFLUENCE OF NATURE AND OF MAN. 141 

that wealth could give. But, unfortunately, she had no 
neighbors. The nearest village was some distance off. The 
house in which the family lived, had once been a castle. 
Long corridors led to apartments that were seldom, if ever 
used. It happened once that a person was sick in one of 
these distant rooms, and a nurse, in attendance upon the 
sick, was much frightened at seeing the head of one of the 
old portraits on the wall move as though there were life in 
the portrait. She said she was certain that the eyes winked, 
and the head moved. At the first opportunity she ran off 
to tell her mistress. Sometime after this circumstance, the 
oldest son returned home from the army. A soldier is always 
bold ; and, hearing about the matter, he resolved to sleep 
in the room and see if there were really any marvelous ap- 
pearances. His mother and sister tried in vain to keep him 
from sleeping in the haunted chamber. He persisted. The 
family retired, and he was left alone. The next morning he 
appeared looking very pale, and refused to say whether he 
saw anything or not. 

In about a week after, the young man told his mother 
that they must all leave the house. They moved. The 
old habitation was pulled down, and it became known that 
a cave situated under the said haunted chamber, was used 
by smugglers who wished to frighten the family from occu- 
pying the rooms over the cave. One of the smugglers had 
cut a hole through a partition between the chamber and a 
dressing room, and made the opening just behind a large 
portrait. It seems he had moved the painting from the 
frame thereof, and put himself in its place. This he did to 
frighten the family, and make them believe the chamber 
was haunted. 

Thus we see how great an influence may be exerted upon 
some people by so simple an occurrence. It takes very lit- 
tle to excite some individuals. 



142 THE GUIDING STAR. 

It is impossible for us, in this paper, to show the many- 
ways in which silent influence is so powerfully exerted. 
Time would fail us were we to speak of the influence of 
Christianity and religion, of light and darkness, of heat and 
cold, and a thousand other things which serve to benefit and 
bless the world. All around us are influences which seem 
to have a voice that speaks of the power and wisdom of 
God. Byron well says : 

There's music in the sighing of a reed, 
There's music in the gushing of a rill ; 
There's music in all things, if men had ears ; 
There earth is but an echo of the spheres." 

There is one other example of the power of silent influence 
to which we must allude ; and that is conscience. What a 
powerful influence is exerted by conscience ! The work it 
does is done quietly, and silently ; but it is done neverthe- 
less, and done well. A good illustration of the influence of 
conscience is here given. 

"An old Indian asked a white man to give him some to- 
bacco for his pipe. The man gave him a loose handful from 
his pocket. The next day he came back and asked for the 
white man ; ' ' For said he, I found a quarter of a dollar 
among the tobacco." 

11 Why, don't you keep it ? " asked a bystander. 

a I've got a good man and a bad man here,'' said the In- 
dian, pointing to his breast ; and the good man say, i it is 
not mine, give it back to the owner. ' The bad man say ; 
'Never mind; you have got it, and it is your own.' The 
good man say, ' no, no, you must not keep it. So I don't 
know what to do, and I think to go to sleep, but the good 
and the bad man keep talking all night, and trouble me ; and 
now I bring the money back, I feel good." 

Like the old Indian, we have all a good and a bad man 
within. The bad man is temptation ; the good man is con- 
science. 



SILENT INFLUENCE OF NATURE AND OF MAN 143 

In conclusion, let us remember that each of us has the 
power to exert an untold influence'for good. Let us use 
that influence. Let us use it for the good of humanity. 
In our moral nature there is a chord of sympathy which 
seems to vibrate from heart to heart. Our emotions may 
be transmitted, in some cases, by the voice and by the pen. 
Let us use, then, the voice, the pen, the heart — yea, the 
whole being, for the welfare of those in the midst of whom 
we live. 




GRANTED WISHES. 




WO little girls let loose from school 
Queried what each would be. 
One said, " I'd be a queen and rule ; " 
And one, " the world I'd see." 

The years went on. Again they met 

And queried what had been"; 
"A poor man's wife, am I, and yet," 

Said one, " I am a queen. 

" My realm a happy household is, 

My king a husband true ; 
I rule by loving services ; 

How has it been with you ? " 

One answered, " Still the great world lies 

Beyond me as it laid ; 
O'er love's and duty's boundaries 

My feet have never strayed. 

" Faint murmurs of the wide world come 

Unheeded to my ear ; 
My widowed mother's sick bedroom 

Sufficeth for my sphere." 

They clasped each other's hands ; with tears 

Of solemn joy they cried, 
God gave the wish of our young years, 

And we are satisfied." 



THE DAY LABORER. 



>SxMONG the distinct statements concerning; the econo- 
\lmMf mies which God has instituted, we find this verse 
c jlt$\ of scripture : " Man goeth forth unto his work, and 
* ■^ r ~ ' to his labor, until the evening." It teaches that the 
Creator's plan of worlds, implies human industry. The 
word man, here, is general ; it includes all men, and all 
women — the aggregate of humanity ; it associates labor with 
every individual of the race. Daily work is announced as a 
settled fact, in the arrangement of nature, and sung as a 
paean of praise to the Lord. The will of heaven toward men 
is that they should have regular employment. Labor is as 
necessary and as dignified as the revolving of the sun, in his 
circuit, the changing of the moon, the harvest yield of the 
earth, the coursing of the waters down the valleys, and 
among the hills, the distribution of the rain, the sweep of 
the tides, or any other of the movements of inanimate crea- 
tion. The Psalmist puts all celestial and terrestial opera- 
itons in sublime accord with the every day duties of men. 
It is so much the divine will and plan that human hands 
should be busy, as it is that nature should observe her ap- 
pointments from the beginning until the end of time. Every 
created finger has its place and its work, and is, in its errands, 
as important in the grand running of things, as any star that 
shines, or any world that yields its increase. 

The Bible makes human labor a sacred ordinance, and 
claims a special service from every hand, as well as from 
every head and every heart. The gift of reason includes 
the obligation to work. Man's physical existence is de- 
pendent on the use of his own hands. His food and rai- 



146 THE GUIDING STAR. 

ment are to be wrought out of crude elements by toil, tact, 
and patience. The beasts have matured provision for all 
their wants. They are fed and clothed by the hand that 
created, and have ample and reasonable supplies. But man 
must coax the earth for his bread ; he draws his comforts 
from reluctant sources. He must build his own shelter, 
weave his own garments, invent and provide his own accom- 
modations. Nature is a storehouse of ready made wares, 
free and full, for brute and bird, for fish and fowl, for insect 
and reptile, all the year and every where ; but man must 
look for himself. He is furnished with raw materials only. 
He must work them into supplies, or shiver and starve. 
Nature gives to man but hints and helps. She hides her 
gold deep in the mountains, her pearls deep in the sea, and 
says : ' ' Now dig and dive, and you shall have them. " She 
puts her bearded wheat and delicious fruits forward of the 
seedtime, and the planting by tedious months and years, 
with storm and snow between ; and the sower, and the 
planter must wait, watching and tilling the ground until the 
gleaning days. Dwellings are to be delved out of the quar- 
ries, cut out of the forests ; clothes are to be spun from the 
wool the cotton, and the flax, and woven in the loom ; all 
essentials, and all luxuries are alike to be reached only by 
search and struggle and sweat ; and no era shall ever dawn 
to change this divinely appointed method of living by labor; 
day by day, and century by century, while the world en- 
dures. 

"No man is born into the world whose work 
Is not born with him ; there is always work, 
And tools to work withal, for those who will ; 
And blessed are the horny hands of toil." 



REHOBOAM. 




^EHOBOAM was a man whose opportunies for useful- 
IMz ness were very great. He was the son of Solomon, 
Jrajp and his successor to the throne of Israel. Possessing 
^ high social position, and mental culture, with abound- 
ing wealth, he might have been a blessing instead of a curse 
to his people. 'He seemed wanting in the true elements of 
greatness, Christian integrity, with a fixedness of purpose, 
and a strict adherence to principle. Solomon, his father, 
when ascending the throne asked for wisdom that he might 
wisely rule so great a people. A prayer hearing God not 
otily gave him his desire, but added ''riches, and wealth, 
and honor" above the kings of earth. "We are not im- 
pressed, however, with the belief that his course of life was 
calculated to impress the mind of his son with a high sense 
of christian obligation and duty. 

Solomon had heavily taxed the people to erect the temple 
on Moriah, and other costly and magnificent buildings ; and 
they thought their burdens should be lessened when the 
necessity for their continuance ceased. They sent a dele- 
gation to Rehoboarn stating their willingness to serve him, 
provided he would accord to them their rights as subjects. 
Instead of profiting by the counsel of older and experienced 
h^ads around him, he listened to the advice of younger ones, 
as ignorant of the rights and feelings of the people as he was. 
Hence the disastrous results that followed. Some of the 
tribes, despairing of equity and justice under his rule, re- 
nounced their fealty to his rule, and declared they had no 
" inheritance in the son of Jesse." Solomon, the builder 



148 THE GUIDING SI AR. 

of the temple, had passed away, and Rehoboam, his suc- 
cessor, by his imprudence, had severed the connecting links 
that bound the tribes together in the pride and in the bonds 
of a common brotherhood. Shishak, king of Egypt, seeing 
the impotency of a dismembered, scattered, and ruined peo- 
ple, came up against Jerusalem, and stripped the temple, 
and the richly furnished palaces of David's son of their dec- 
orations and their treasures. Instead of learning wisdom 
from those capable of imparting it, that he might clearly 
see and perform his duty to his God and his country, he pur- 
sued a course of policy that brought ruin upon his head, nor 
awake to the perils of the situation, until he saw the fearful 
"Ichabod" inscribed upon his throne. In his humiliation 
he saw the shades of thickening darkness gathering around his 
throne, and its waning glory departing. He saw the mag^ 
nificent temple that crowned the summit of Moriah, which 
his father had built, decorated and adorned, despoiled of its 
beauty, and its treasures snatched away by Egypt's king. 
He saw the ivory throne on which his father sat, in the days 
of his transcendent glory and power, with its twelve golden 
lions, emblems of power and might, undermined and up- 
rooted by the sacriligious hands of an invader in search of 
gold. He saw the richly decorated halls of his father's pal- 
ace, where once he sported in the thoughtless innocency of 
his childhood days, with the dazzling splendor that adorned 
them in the reign of David's son, lonely, desolated and 
ruined. What feelings of sadness must have pressed his 
burdened soul as memory recalled the scenes of the past, 
when Sheba's queen admired the grandeur, glory and power 
of the realm, and songs of triumph floated out o'er Shiloh's 
streams. 

David was a king the people delighted to honor. And 
the wisdom of Solomon, and the dazzling of his throne at- 



REHOBOAM. 149 

tracted the envy and gaze of less fortunate rulers of earth. 
But Rehoboam, instead of improving his time, his talents, 
and his treasure, in promoting the harmony and prosperity 
of his people, drove them to desperation by a disregard of 
their wishes and their interests. Standing, as it were, upon 
a volcano whose smouldering fires were gathering in their 
intensity, ready to burst forth in resistless fury at his feet, 
he saw not the deep feelings of discontent that pervaded the 
minds of his subjects until the thunders of a fearful disinte- 
gration aroused him to the perils of his condition. But alas ! 
it was too late to repair the evils of his heedless and mis- 
guided course. The cry had gone up, "every man to your 
tents, O Israel." The opportunity for arresting the tide of 
discontent had passed, and the goodly heritage of his fathers 
felt the scourge of an invading foe. Had Rehoboam sought 
counsel from wiser heads, instead of listening to boys around 
him, a brighter day might have dawned upon his reign. 
But, like too many sons of fortune in our land, whose prud- 
ent fathers secured for them a competence, his prospects for 
happiness and usefulness were blighted by pursuing an ill- 
advised course. Failing to appreciate the duties of his high 
position, and secure the esteem and respect of others around 
him, he reaped the bitter fruits of his folly. He saw the 
morning sun of his glory, that rose so brightly, setting in a 
thickening cloud of discontent, the accumulated treasures of 
his father departing, and the soil of Israel pressed by an in- 
sulting and a plundering foe. With an united Israel, attached 
to their king and their country, the footprints of Egypt's 
king would not have desecrated her temple and her soil. 

The course pursued, by Solomon's son in rejecting the 

counsel of the sages of the land, reminds us so much of the 

course pursued by some sons of fortune in our midst, whose 

sun goes down in moral darkness, and pecuniary ruin. 

11 



150 THE GUIDING STAR. 

Prudent and economical parents toil to give their boys a 
good education, and accumulate riches for them, that they 
may occupy a position of usefulness and respectability in 
society. But how few are fully aware of the heartfelt solic- 
itude and anxiety of a father's heart for their present and 
future welfare. Their parents carry them to the house 
of God when young, invoke the blessings of heaven upon 
them, and pass away, leaving them the inheritors of their 
hard-earned treasures. Flatterers cajole and deceive them — 
congenial spirits gather around them, and with the remem- 
brance of a pious father's example fading from their mind, 
they run farther and farther in sin until designing ' 'Shishak's" 
strip them of their means, leaving them in pennyless poverty 
and degredation. Like the prodigal they find themselves in 
wretchedness and in want, either the associates of the swine 
or viler sons of men. 

Young man, you are to be the representative of your 
family when the silvery locks of your time-honored father, 
will be seen no more in time. Lift up your head, and "shew 
thyself a man." Stand up in the upright integrity of a no- 
ble and a generous nature, and let the impulses of a manly 
dignity of character move thee to action. Let the sunlight 
of a pure and a spotless life elevate the thoughts and affec- 
tions of thy heart, and shed a brighter luster in the moral 
atmosphere above the father's grave. "Wisdom was given 
to direct." Hence says the wise man — " Get wisdom, and 
with all thy getting get understanding." " Wisdom is the 
principal thing — she shall bring thee to heaven, when thou 
do'st embrace her." Young man your parents love you. 
They will soon be gone. Respect their feelings and gladden 
their hearts by a thoughtful course of action. Remember 
the words of the wise man — "A wise son maketh a glad 
father; but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother." 



THE LITTLE GIRLS' PRAYER-MEETING. 



ITTY was a romping, noisy, quick-tempered, impul- 



M\\t 



}) lj^\ and broke dishes, and made trouble for her mother, 

c -^ v ' she tried hard to be good, and used to pray every 
night and morning, asking God to forgive her sins, and make 
her a good girl. When she was seven years old a minister 
moved into the neighborhood, and his little Nellie and Kittie 
soon became fast friends. Every day they went to the same 
school, and played together, and each soon learned that the 
other prayed and was trying to be good. One morning, 
Kitty came bounding into the minister's house, shouting, 
' 'O Nellie ! Can't you ' ' — when she saw a sight that stopped 
her feet and tongue, and brought a solemn hush upon her 
soul. The minister, his wife, and all the children, Nellie 
among them, were kneeling before their chairs, and some 
one was praying aloud. Kitty had never seen a family at 
prayer before, and she went out very softly. After that she 
used to watch Nellie while playing, and think, " I wish we 
had prayers like Nellie's folks." 

One day during vacation, they were playing together, 
when Kitty suddenly stopped and asked, '■ Do you pray in 
the morning, when your father does ? " 

"Yes. Don't you ? " said Nellie. 

"My folks never pray," said Kitty. "Oh, dear! I wish 
they did. It would help me so much to be good if anybody 
prayed with me. I get lonesome trying all alone." 

" I'll pray with you," said Nellie. " Can't we have a lit- 
tle prayer-meeting all by ourselves? " 



152 THE GUIDING STAR. 

" Oh, yes," cried Kitty, joyfully. " Let's go where no- 
body can see us, and have one now." 

" Where can we go ? " said Nellie. "Oh, I know ; down 
by the thornbush back of the shed." 

So, with their arms around each other, the two little girls 
went to that shady retreat hidden out of sight from the road 
and houses, and kneeling down together, asked the good 
Lord to wash away their sins for Jesus sake, and help them 
to be good children while at work or at play. After they 
had prayed, a deep peace came into their hearts, and kissing 
each other, they parted and went to their homes — Kitty 
wondering at the quiet joy in her heart, and breaking into 
little snatches of song as she helped her mother about get- 
ting dinner. 

■ "Can't we have a prayer-meeting every day?" was the 
first thing Kitty said the next time they met. 

"I want to," said Nellie. ■' What time can we meet?" 
" I can't come very early," said Kitty, for I have to wash 
dishes and sew a ' stint ' on patchwork every forenoon ; but 
I get through by ten o'clock, generally, if I am smart. 
When I cry and make a fuss I don't get through so quick." 
"Let's have it at eleven, then, 5 ' said Nellie. 
' ' And let's invite Annie to come, too, " said Kitty. ' 'She 
prays when she goes to bed. I know, 'cos I've slept with 
her." 

So after that, every fair day while vacation lasted, the lit- 
tle girls met at eleven o'clock, and prayed together. Some- 
times they sang a hymn, and sometimes Nellie would tell 
the others what her father or mother had said about Jesus, 
and the different ways she could please Him. And these 
little meettngs helped the children to "grow in grace, and 
in the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.' 



I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU. 




r> 



WHERE is only one who can say this. Every human 
\j|g tie is liable to be severed, nor can we assure our- 
selves of the permanence of any earthly friendship. 
Those nearest and dearest to us may turn to be our 
bitterest foes ; and those whose friendship remains unbroken 
may yet be swept away from our presence and fellowship, 
and leave us desolate and alone. But "He hath said I will 
never leave you nor forsake you. " The seal of truth is upon 
the covenant which He hath made with us. Long as His 
blood avails ; long as His grace abides ; long as His mercy 
endures , long as His omnipotence rules, and His omnis- 
cience discerns ; long as creation is subject to its Maker's 
sway ; long as the stormy wind fulfills His word ; long as 
the thunderbolts sleep within His hand ; long as the angels 
wait to do His will, hearkening to the voice of his command ; 
so long w r e need not fear ; so long we shall not be abandoned, 
for He hath said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." 
The sun may grow dim in the heavens ; the stars may 
burn out in the distant sky ; heaven and earth may pass 
away; the sea may vanish from our view; men may fall 
from their steadfastness, and angels may fail to keep their 
high estate, but the Lord's promise will not fail, and He 
will fulfill all His word. With this assurance we may bid 
adieu to anxiety and fear, and heed that word which says, 
"Let your conversation be without covetousness, and be 
content with such things as ye have, for He hath said, I will 
never leave you nor forsake you. So that we may boldly 
say, the Lord is my helper, I will not fear what man shall do 
unto me." 



RIGHT LIVING. 



ELIGION is a life. It is a life of good deeds. A 

J^ man's faith or profession is vain unless there is right 

rA\vs 

[%1 living. A life of piety toward God, and of charity 

^ toward men is the only true life. Such a life com- 
prehends faithfuluess to all our obligations, which are 
summed upas follows: "Thou shall love the Lord thy 
God with all thy heart, and thy neighbor as thyself." This 
is right living. This is religion as viewed from a christian 
standpoint. 

The Bible furnishes us with a portraiture of the life that 
is well pleasing to God. It is a pure and blameless life. 
Zacharias and Elizabeth present to us an example of right 
living. ' 'They were both righteous before God, walking in 
all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blame- 
less. ,J It is not enough to have faith or emotions. They 
are important, but only as they are connected with a good 
life. The life is more than feeling or sentiment, or any such 
thing. It is true, however, that the faith, feelings, senti 
ments and purposes of the heart make the life, and that all 
these things enter largely into the formation of character. 
And then character determines the life, and character de- 
termines the destiny of every man. ' 'We must stand before 
the judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive the 
things done in his body according to that he hath done, 
whether it be good or bad." By the principals of right liv- 
ing, every one must stand or fall in the great day. God is 
good ; He is merciful, and will save all who live godly in 
Christ Jesus. All who fear God and work righteousness are 
accepted by Him. Blessed life ! 



THE GOOD OF KNOWLEDGE. 




BX £ PUBLIC OKA'fOR, 

,f HE household god next in importance, and which is 
perhaps the most popular both of the household and 
the nation, is the god of education falsely so-called. 

*$" Everything must bow to the scholastic education of 
the children. Their very health is sacrificed in hundreds of 
instances ; the whole of the domestic arrangements, the 
convenience of father and mother, and visitors must bow 
down to this god. The children must be educated what- 
ever else becomes of them. I touched very briefly on this 
subject in my address at Exeter Hall on ' 'Family Religion, ' ' 
and some friends seem to infer that I was against education, 
whereas I have seldom talked with anyone on the subject 
more profoundly impressed with its importance ! I adopted 
many years ago the sentiment of that great philosopher 
Locke, who said that " in nine cases out of ten all the men 
we meet are what they are for good or for evil, for useful- 
ness or otherwise, by their education." I say I fully be- 
lieve that, and have acted upon it in training my own fam- 
ily, so you see my quarrel is not with education, but with a 
certain kind of education. 

I believe that a child ought to be educated every half- 
hour of its life — never ought to be left to itself in the sense 
of not having a recognized influence exerted over its mind. 
The question is then, what kind of education is the right 
kind to bestow upon children ? How ought you to educate 
them ? The same idea which helped us on the question of 
fashion, may help us again here. What should be the great 



156 THE GUIDING STAR. 

purpose of education ? Surely right education must be that 
which is calculated to help the child to attain the highest 
type of its kind, and to fit it for its highest destiny. You train 
your horses on that principle. You develope and strengthen 
it that it may be a perfect creature, having capacity devel- 
oped for the highest service of which its nature is capable. 
I say that all right training ought to contemplate this end, 
especially so with respect to man, being God's highest crea- 
ture. Next comes the question, what is the highest type 
of a man ? and the highest destiny of a man? That is the 
point. What ought we to aim at ? For if the aim is wrong, 
all our training will be wrong. I say that the highest type 
of a man is that in which the soul rules over the body, in 
which a purified, ennobled soul rules through an enlightened 
intelligence, and makes every faculty of the being subserv- 
ient to the highest purpose, the service of humanity, and 
the service of God ! If I understand it, that is the highest 
type of man and his highest destiny. And it seems to me 
that all education that falls short of this is a curse rather 
than a blessing. 

The aim of all rightly directed education is to make such 
men and women and to fit them for such work, and if it 
fails of this, I say it is one sided, unphilosophical and irre- 
ligious, and that is my quarrel with modern education. I 
charge it with being all this, and that is the reason I did not 
educate my children after its theories. I did not believe in 
them, and the results so far prove that I was right. 

Then first let us look at what ought to be the purpose of 
education. Most of you, nearly all I presume, agree as to 
what I have stated. But the purpose of modern education 
is anything but this. It is for the most part planned and 
executed with a view to aggrandizement or well-being of 
the individual looked at in a worldly point of view. 



THE GOOD OF KNOWLEDGE. 157 

Parents Look at their boy and say, " Now what can we do 
with him ?" They have all sorts of aspirations and ambi- 
tions for the boy, and they feel, "Well, we must educate 
him, develope his intellect " — what for ? That he may use 
it for the service of humanity and the glory of God ? Oh no, 
that never enters their minds. They say, "We will have 
him educated in order that he may shine in the world, or 
get up in the world. We will have a son that will be able 
to go to the bar, the senate house," or do anything else 
that their ambition fixes on. The aggrandizement of the 
individual is the end, not the universal good, and out of this 
wrong aim arises the undue estimate of mere scholastic edu- 
ucation. What would you say of the trainer of an animal, if 
it were possible for the trainer to select one facult)', and de- 
velop and strengthen that, to the exclusion, neglect, or ex- 
tinction of other faculties, would you say that was right 
training ? 

The main idea of modern education is that of the impart- 
ing of knowledge. Knowledge is the idol which both the 
household and the nation to-day are worshipping more 
largely perhaps than any other, as if progress in knowledge 
constituted the true progress of man. Oh, if it were so 
what a different world we should have to-day ; but we know 
it is quite the contrary. We know that the more knowl- 
edge you give to an individual without giving him a corres- 
ponding disposition to use it for good, the more you in- 
crease his capacity for mischief. Very often the most 
learned men live for the worst purposes ! But, alas ! the 
very flower of the youth of our nation are sacrificed to this 
modern deity. The notion is that our youth must be edu- 
cated in this mischievious sense, they must be crammed 
with knowledge. Whether it be a curse or a blessing to 
them is not the question ! they must have it. They must 



158 THE GUIDING STAR. 

learn the dead languages, and they must read bad literature 
in order to make them like the rest of the wo"rld around 
them. No matter what becomes of their morals, they must 
be crammed with science, much of it falsely so-called ; much 
of it in embryo, crude and shallow — the shallow theories of 
minds trying to grasp profound thoughts, and getting lost 
in the fogs of their own folly, and landing the poor pupils 
on the strand of infidelity and atheism. The intellect, the 
one faculty of the man, must be strained, and stretched, and 
crammed to the utter neglect, and often destruction, of the 
moral faculties ; and when you have done that, what have 
you produced ? — an enlightened animal, an intellectual 
monster, who walks abroad, treading under his feet all the 
tender instincts and most sacred feelings and aspirations of 
humanity. That is all you have produced ; there they are, 
thousands of such to be seen to-day. Alas ! my heart 
bleeds over the stories I hear all over the land, which I 
could give you as illustrations of this fact. All this mis- 
chief comes of upsetting God's order — cultivating the intel- 
lect at the expense of the heart ; being at more pains to 
make your youth clevet than to make them good ? This false 
theory leads to false methods, and hence the deplorable con- 
dition of our nation to day. It leads to the separating from 
home life our little boys of ten and twelve years of age, and 
our girls too, alas ! sending them away from the tender influ- 
ences, and what ought to be the grand and noble inspira- 
tions of their mothers, to herd with boys of their own age 
and class, and to have their moral nature manipulated by 
masters, often skeptical or immoral instead of their own 
mothers. Now I can say and will maintain, that the chief 
end of education is not mere teaching but inspiration, and 
if you fail to inspire your pupil with nobleness, disinterested 
goodness, truth, morality, and religion, not only are all the 



THE GOOD OF KNOWLEDGE. 159 

glorious ends of education lost, but you damn your pupil 
more deeply than he might have been damned without your 
education. I ask, is it not so? Take some of your own 
sons, alas ! (and I could point to numbers round about) as 
illustrations of this fact. God has given every child a tutor 
in his mother, and she is the best and only right tutor for 
the heart. 

I defy you to fill a mother's place for influence over the 
heart. If God were to depute the angel Gabriel, he could 
not fill the mother's place. God has tied the child to its 
mother by such peculiar moral and mental links that no 
other being could possibly possess. And I tell you mothers 
here that if you are good mothers you are committing the 
greatest wrong to send away your child from your homes, 
and I believe this is damning half our nation to-day. God, 
you see, committed the child to its parents to be educated, 
not to the schoolmaster. You can employ the schoolmas- 
ter to teach his head, and even then you must be very care- 
ful what sort of a schoolmaster he is, or he will ruin the 
child. But God committed him to the parents to be edu- 
cated, trained, that is, taught how to feel, think, and act 
not to the schoolmaster. And it is to the mother especially 
that belongs the art and the capacity to inspire her boy to 
love all that is noble and good, and disinterested, and grand 
in humanity, and keep on inspiring him until he is strong 
enough in moral excellence; in other words, strong enough 
in God's likeness to walk alone. Just as you tend him 
when he is a baby, and will not leave him to strangers to 
train him to walk and speak, so while he is a moral infant 
you are to watch and keep and train him until he is able to 
walk alone. I set my soul on this with regard to my own 
children, and God has enabled me to do it. I had a great 
fight over it in many ways, but I said : "I am determined to 



160 



THE GUIDING STAR. 



keep my children for God and goodness. They shall have 
the education that I think likely to help them to be useful to 
their generation, as far as possible ; but I never will sacri- 
fice purity to polish, I will never sacrifice the heart to the 
head. " That was my resolve, and I see no cause to regret it. 





HOPE. 



dID it ever occur to you what a world of thought is 
^t| wrapped up in that little word "hope?" Its very 
'qJJ pronunciation makes every bosom bound and burn. 
%V- It is music to the ear of the young, health to the sick, 
and life rejuvenated to the old. Poetry makes hope a forma- 
tion, grief makes it a solace, and desolation makes it the 
brightest flower that adorns earthly creation, while even dis- 
appointment and delusion whisper darkness out of the sky of 
to-day, into sunshine of to-morrow. Sobbing sorrow may 
crush and cripple the soul, but hope gives it new elasticity. 
Nay, it may be humiliation in the dust, but hope w r ill raise 
it up again. Hope is man's birthright, which, after all his 
blandishments, delusions, and mockeries, never maketh him 
ashamed to hope on, hope ever. Airy fancies may allure 
him, and smiling faces beguile him into treachery, but hope 
fits etertnal around the human head and breast, and hangs 
the rainbow on the blackest cloud in all the chaste spark- 
lings of an angel from immortal life. Thunder-bolts may 
leap from the fair bow in the clouds, and hope may vanish 
as a fair scorner from that bright spot, but the fascinating 
form soon appears elsewhere in fairer robes than ever, and 
with a wreath of flowers, to crown the child of endless dis- 
appointments. Now when you connect the word " hope " 
with "salvation," then what a wonderful word it becomes"! 
At once it comes to measure man's most delightful Christ- 
ian attainment. Indeed, so intimately is it associated with 
practical godliness, that religion itself is called " a good hope 
through grace." , More than this, our God is called the God 
of hope, our Saviour is called Christ, our hope, and his fin- 
ished work is known as "the hope set before us in the gos- 
pel, " while- those who accept him are said, ' 'to rejoice in the 
hope of the glory of God." 




THE BRICKLAYER. 

■BI .ALEXANDER CLAIUi. 

If HE tents of the moving masses had hitherto been 
their most substantial dwellings ; but now there is 
to be marked an era of change in the material of 

^P their habitations. The transient and flimsy fabric of 
pole and canvas is to give place to buildings with fixed 
foundations. Wandering tribes are about to assume per- 
manent abodes, and to establish citizenship, and civil rela- 
tions. 

The family now recognize the community ; society takes 
its place in the economy of Providence. The land of Shinar, 
on the rich plains that bordered the Euphrates, was beauti- 
ful and luxurious, but destitute of stone ; and its soil yielded 
no lime for cement, and hence, in the early history of arch- 
itecture, there arose a necessity for invention. The sandy 
clay was found to be easily moulded, and sunburnt into con- 
venient forms that would answer in the place of stones ; and 
a kind of bitumen or slime which floated on the ponds and 
marshes, was substituted for mortar to bind the bricks into 
solid walls. 

It was here, of such materials, and by men theretofore of 
»ne language, that the tower of Babel was attempted, as a 
refuge against another flood. The people were not willing 
to trust God's word, though stamped with the rainbow seal, 
that there should be no more deluge, but rather inclined to 
believe in brick of their own hands' making, than in the 
promise of the almighty. 

Cities and towers from this time forward began to dot the 
post diluvian world. The manufacture and laying of bricks 



THE BRICKLAYER. 163 

were the occupations of multitudes of busy men. There are 
still in existence in Egypt both public and private buildings 
erected with the kind of materials described by Moses in the 
Pentateuch. The Babylonian bricks were about one foot 
square, and three and a half inches thick. They bore var- 
ious inscriptions and patterns on their surface, cast in their 
moulding. Really the art of printing might be said to date 
its origin in this custom. Old bricks have been discovered 
at Nineveh and Thebes bearing the ovals of a king, and the 
names and offices of the priests. 

Both sun dried and kiln-burnt bricks were common in the 
treasure cities and granaries of lower Egypt. The clay from 
the banks of the Nile was carried in baskets, thrown into 
mass, saturated, and trodden into the proper temper by the 
feet of the workmen. It was a most fatiguing and perilous 
toil. Nahum refers to the severity of such service in his 
prophecy, III chapter, and 14th verse. " Draw the waters 
for the siege, fortify thy strongholds ; go into clay, and tread 
the mortar, make strong the brickkiln." Wherever there 
was any difficulty in procuring desirable stones, the Romans, 
in later ages, resorted to the use of bricks. The Roman 
bricks were from eighteen to thirty inches in length, nine 
inches in width, and two and three-fifths inches in thickness, 
and originated a style of architecture peculiar to their shape. 
Bricks were less used during the early part of the middle 
ages ; but about the twelfth century were generally em- 
ployed in Northern Italy, and in the adjacent provinces. 
By the sixteenth century, brick almost superceded stone, 
and many of the great cathedrals and prominent public works 
of engineering were executed of bricks even where stone 
was accessible. In later years the taste is changing again, 
and stone work comes to the front in fashionable architect- 
ure, and bricks are pressed into rear walls and unpretending 
structures. 



164 THE GUIDING STAR. 

The various colored bricks, red, yellow, blue, and brown 
are obtained from clays of peculiar tints. The east Penn- 
sylvania pressed bricks have a brilliant red appearance, while 
the common and scarcely less beautiful bricks of Wisconsin, 
are cream tinged, and in those cities the walls hold their 
primitive colors ; while in Pittsburgh, Wheeling, and other 
places, whatever may have been the original hue of houses, 
they soon became shadowed with the smoke and soot of the 
bituminous fires. And so does many a man's religion, 
however bright and clear at first, sometimes become tinged 
with the prevailing atmospheres. It were well, however, 
if the shade on men gets no thicker than on houses. There 
are solid bricks, red and clean at heart, in the walls of the 
dimmest old church, under the settling smoke. So be it ever- 
more, beyond our sight with the varied human portions that 
compose the temple of the living God, though oft obscured 
without, and dull with the dust and grime of business — may 
they be pure and clean within. 




THE HELPER HELPED. 




HE above truth is very clearly expressed in the prov- 
erb — V He that watereth shall be watered also him- 
fffJIFf self." This is very simple language, and yet in 

^F what simple language almost all the great truths of 
God are expressed. So simple are some of the facts that 
we fear on that account they are overlooked. It is the case 
frequently that in our rambles through the fields we crush 
or trample upon a flower because it is not large or showy, 
and yet if we were to take it in our hands and examine it, we 
would discover that it was not so simple after all. It is the 
same with men who carelessly or listlessly go through the 
scriptures, some great truths are overlooked or despised, 
simply because they are not expressed in high sounding 
words and phrases. 

We like truths expressed in simple language, they are 
none the less effective because of their simple attire, as the 
violet is none the less sweet because of its modest bearing. 
It is so with the truth with which we started out, it is sim- 
ple in language, and yet it expresses to us the great truth of 
man's relation to his fellow man, and his influence upon him. 
The whole universe is so closely related that one part affects 
the other, as men influence for good or for evil their fellow- 
men. But do we know this truth rightly ? Has it been 
brought home to our hearts by experience ? It is evident 
that we do not understand this language or we would carry 
it out in our dealings with the world. There is a reflex 
power in doing good. A good action will act upon the doer. 
We seek to do ourselves all the goocf we can, and yet we 
12 



166 THE GUIDING STAR. 

ignore the way by which God has designed we should be 
blessed. This fact leads us to think that we do not rightly 
see the force of the truth expressed in this proverb. 

We see a man faltering and sinking under a heavy weight, 
it may be that he is poor and aged, and that the load upon 
his shoulders is either to feed or warm those who are 
dependent upon him. We help to carry his burden. His 
heart is made glad and thankful. The exercise has made us 
stronger in body, and the kind intent has made us happier 
in soul. You see another going the downward way to ruin. 
You take it upon yourself to rescue him, the effort you 
make on his behalf only makes you the firmer. Another 
is withering under the blighting influence of some sin. 
You bring to that soul the water of life, and that very action 
brings upon your own soul the dew of heaven. 

See how the law of God acts even in nature. The earth 
gives its vapors to the sky, and these come back again in 
the form of rain to refresh the earth. The trees draw nu- 
triment from the soil, then shed their leaves which in return 
enrich the soil. It is so with our good actions, we send them 
out, and they come back to us like the bread upon the water. 
What blessings we may be the means of scattering far and 
wide. How we have it in our power to carry into the re- 
cesses of our souls sunshine and gladness by making the 
atmosphere around others more congenial. We do not ap- 
preciate as we should the privilege we have of being helpers. 
We are shrewd enough in drawing from our fellowmen that 
which will add to our wealth, but that which brings us peace 
of conscience, and happiness, we are not so apt to receive 
because we do not give. How many souls there are to be 
helped and watered, and what are we doing as the instru- 
ments of God? Opportunities are thick about us, and our 
hands must not rest. In sowing we shall also reap. It is 



THE HELPER HELPED. 167 

a law of God, that every good deed performed will bring the 
doer a harvest in some way or other. We have experienced 
this time and again in various ways. 'Who has not been re- 
paid by watering withered flowers. Who has not been rec- 
ompensed a thousand times over by watering withering 
souls. Who has not received ten-fold in doing the kind act. 
Just call up a circumstance. You sat in your own comfort- 
able home, with abundance about you — a knock at the door 
calls you. There stands a -poor child shivering in the cold, 
begging for help. You knew the family, and knew they 
needed help. You gave liberally. As you turned back to 
your own warm fireside, and thought of the brightened 
countenance of that child, and of the joy your help would 
bring the family were 3 r ou not repaid ? Did not that act done 
in the spirit of the Master bring to your own heart such a joy 
as can not be described? "Inasmuch as ye did it unto one 
of the least of these, ye did it unto me. " Do good and you 
will get good. It is only by sowing that you can hope to 
reap. 




KITCHEN GARDEN. 



BY LUCIA E. F. KIMBALL. 



BOUT six weeks before Thanksgiving day, there came 
m l to one of our homes, a forlorn, wretched women — girl 
C JI^A% she might have been called, for she was only twenty, 
^ .'■ and that score of years had brought her nothing of 
womanhood's royal estate. She was a pitiful sight, without 
any bonnet, and with scarcely clothing enough to cover her. 
Haggard and hungry and wild looking, she seemed a blot on 
God's fair universe. The bleared eyes peered in at the base- 
ment window, and met those of a loving, christian woman, 
who pitied her condition, and bid her welcome to come in, 
knowing her to be one whom Christ died for, and in this 
home she found shelter, comforts and patient instruction. 
And with much pains taken, she was very soon taught to 
cook and do general house work, of which she was almost 
wholly ignorant. She was very apt after recovering from a 
low state of degredation, to learn how to carry on business 
about the house. A new world seemed to have opened on 
this poor girl, and again, and again she would speak out in 
high words of gratitude. O, Mrs. G. how much better it 
would have been if you had only taken me in years ago, and 
learned me how to work. So she thanks the Lord for the 
good missionary. Just see how such wrecking of humanity 
can be prevented. Gladly we turn on it the calcium light 
of a beautiful charity, which aims to save girls from such a 
hapless fate, in so much as idleness, and contempt for labor 
are fruitful causes of ruined lives. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. IG9 

A school not unlike the kindergarten. The same bright, 
airy rooms. The same kind, inspiring teaching, but the 
playthings are toy kitchen utensils and household furniture. 
Here the children are taught to work in such an attractive 
and fascinating way that naturally they come to love it. The 
lessons are set to pretty songs, accompanied by exercises 
and plays. We give a few : 

Washing dishes, that Gibralter of housework. A pretty 
toy dish-pan is placed before each little housemaid, and she 
plays wash the dishes, rinsing them in clear water, and dry- 
ing each article on its special towel, while to the piano they 
sing : 

Washing dishes, 

Suds are hot, 
Work away briskly, 

Do not stop. 

First the glasses ; 

Wash them well ; 
If you do them nicely, 

All can tell. 

Then the silver 

Must be bright, etc., 

When we remember how much there is in the " feel " of 
a drinking-glass, we are glad to know that the children " are 
taught to not only wipe a glass on the glass-towel, but also 
to set it down with the towel, without touching it with the 
hands." 

For bed-making each child is furnished with a doll's bed- 
stead, with regular bedding. The clothes are carefully re- 
moved and laid over small chairs ; pillow-shams folded ; the 
mattress thoroughly shaken ; then the bed smoothly and 
neatly made as, they sing : 

When you wake up in the morning, 

At the day dawning, 
Throw off the bedding and let it all air, 

Then shake up the- pillows, 

In wave* and in billows, 
And leave them near windows, if the day is quite fair. 



170 . THE G UIDING STAR. 

Linen, clean and white, is such a delight, we shall all be 
interested in the washing lesson. Tiny tubs and shining lit- 
tle washboards ; fresh clothes-lines hung from posts set in 
the four corners of the rooms ; baby clothes-pins, and a bag 
of soiled doll-sized garments — this is the equipment. The 
clothes are sorted, then washed, the girls singing : 

In the tub so cheerily, 

Our little hands must go, 
Washing ail so merrily, 

And washing white as snow. 

While we wash, oh, readily, 

So white the garments grow, 
Rub and scrub them steadily, 

And let clear water flow. 

Everything pertaining to laundry work is taught, boiling, 
rinsing and bluing, hanging the clothes on the line, followed 
by instruction as to sprinkling, folding and ironing. 

The sweeping lesson is one of the liveliest, and includes 
dusting, how to wipe the woodwork, and putting the room 
in order as they sing : 

Away now, swiftly flying, 

It is our sweeping day ; 
For brooms and dusters plying 

To work without delay ; 
First open shutters wide, 
Move little things outside* 

Chorus — Then sweep, sweep, sweep, my little maid, 
To make your room so neat. 

Scrubbing is hardly an aesthetic or specially delightful 
exercise, and yet one might almost believe it were both, 
watching that little company of workers with their scrubbing 
brushes, three inches long, polishing the table in front of 
them, as they merrily sing : 

Scrubbing away 
At break of day, 
To make our homes look neatly ; 

For a good hard scrub is the very best way, 

To make all smell so sweetly. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 171 

Chorus — Then scrub away in your very best way, 
With face so bright and cheerful ; 
For a cheery face meets much more grace 
Then one that's always tearful. 

The lessons taught include making fires, handling matches, 
and taking care of ashes and coal, waiting on the door and 
table, setting and clearing off the latter. A " pricking les- 
son" teaches the parts of beef and mutton, and how to cut 
and cook each. 




WHAT JAMIE SAID TO THE MOON. 




AST night the moon rose from the deep blue lake, 
It saw a city full of children take 
Sweet rest in quiet sleep from God the Giver ; 
*^^ It watched all night, lake, city, people, river. 

"My mamma said the moon looked pale and sad. 
Maybe it wondered if we children had 
Each prayed our prayer before we came to bed, 
And thanked the Lord for all the Saviour said. 

"What did you think, poor moon, as on you sailed, 
Away up there, alone, and never failed 
To go just on the errands you were sent? 
I wish ive always did just what we meant. 

" You never stop to play behind a cloud ; 
If you should run away, or should speak loud, 
Cross angry words up there, with heav'n so near, 
The stars would be afraid, and God would hear ! 

" Are you the mamma of the stars ? tell me, 
I wonder at most everything I see — 
I'll never tell the secret, if I only knew. 
I think our world is beautiful, don't you ? 

"Good moon, you've taught me — Oh, so many things 

I love you, moon ; if I only had wings, 

I'd fly to see you in your blue sky-sea. 

I think 'twould be so nice, just you and me.'' 



HOW TO TEACH READING. 



BY ANTONIA ROESER, NEWARK, N. J. 



f begin with a lesson on the chart, and illustrate it by- 
making pictures on the blackbord. I then allow my 
class to think for a moment, and if ready, hands will be 
*^F up to tell me all they can about the pictures or objects. 
I then write the pupils sentences on the blackboard, and 
ask questions frequently ; I also allow questions by the 
pupils, as I find it gives them thinking power. 

When I have written these sentences, we learn all the 
words and pronounce them beginning at the top and then at 
the bottom, skipping all over, and rub out words occasion- 
ally, to keep the attention of scholars as well as to see how 
quickly they can read. The class is interested, and by let- 
ting children do the talking, they lose all diffidence, as well 
as gain confidence in their teachers. 

When a lesson is very hard and I see children lose inter- 
est, I put a new one on the black-board, but return to the 
old one in a few days, with a different picture, using the 
same words with a few new ones, and I find the children as 
much interested as if it were entirely new. 

For variety I hold up objects, make pictures of them on 
the blackboard, and they tell me all they can about them. 
I then write these sentences on the blackboard, and let my 
class read them as well as they can. For review I will put 
a picture of some previous lesson on the blackboard and see 
how many can remember all about that lesson. I then let 
them write it, and read every word they write. I have no 



174 



THE GUIDING STAR. 



difficulty in teaching new words, as I notice children com- 
pare forms and sounds of words. When I put a new word 
on the blackboard, I let my class first pronounce it slowly, 
then I give the sounds, then let some 'pupil give the sepa- 
rate sounds, and lastly, I spell it. I have sentences written 
on cardboard, which I distribute to the class to see how 
readily they can read them. Some are questions, others 
are answers. Those who have questions, I allow to make 
answers, and vice vetsa. Then I have other slips with the 
words is, are am, an, etc. , etc. , on them ; the pupils take 
these and make sentences, using the words properly. I have 
also pasted pictures on bristol board, with the names of the 
pictures, and pupils tell all they can about them, and also 
write about them, and then reatl it in the class. Sometimes 
I let them think of all the words they have had during the 
week. They pronounce, sound, and read every word they 
write. They seem to enjoy thinking for themselves very 
much. 




DEPTHS AND HEIGHTS. 




.j^pjgsUT of the depths I cry ; 
IPnrl ^ nave no s P ee ch beside ; 

And clouds and tempests nigh 
Conceal the Crucified. 

Mine eyes are dim of sight ; 

I can not trace the way; 
The darkness is as night, 

And night without a day. 

Mine hands hang helpless down ; 

Life's burden presses sore ; 
Alike seems cross and crown — 

The Now and Evermore. 

Nor can the weary feet 
Press onward in the race, 

Unless, in Whom complete, 
The heart find needed grace. 

Out of the depths I cry ; 

I have no speech beside ; 
Lord, from thy throne on high, 

Reveal the Crucified. 



Upon the crowning heights I stand, 
A victor strong and free ; 

And hope illumines all the land, 
And heart holds jubilee. 



176 THE GUIDING STAR. 

No more do clouds and tempests hide 

The father's smiling face ; 
Beside me walks the Crucified, 

In form of sweetest grace. 

Around, above, a glory shines ; 

Bright day supplants the night ; 
And all my sorrow he refines, 

And makes each burden light. 

He hears my prayer, and grants His care. 

In loving providence ; 
With art most rare, when harm would snare, 

He shields from consequence. 

No more distrust, no more despair , 

The waters can not whelm ; 
The bark sails safe through foul and fair — 

His hand is on the helm. 




FUN WITH A SPIDER. 



FOR WHICH WE THANK UNCLE TREBOR. 




1j 



PIDERS in many respects are just like other animals 
and can be tamed and petted, and taught a great 
many lessons which they will learn as readily as a dog 
or cat. But you must take the trouble to study their 
ways and get on the good side of them. 

One day I had been reading a book how spiders managed 
to get their webs across streams and roads, and from the 
top of one tall tree to another. I went out and caught a 
large garden spider, one of those blue-gray sprawling fellows, 
and fixed him for my experiment. 

I took a stick about eighteen inches in length, and fastened 
a piece of iron to one end of it, so that the stick would stand 
up on that end of itself. Then I put this stick in the center 
of a large tub of water, and placed the spider on top of the 
stick. I wanted to see if he could get to the "land," which 
was the edge of the tub, without any help. He ran down 
first one side of the stick, and then the other ; each time he 
would stop when he touched the water, and shaking his foot 
as a cat does, he would run up again. At last he came to 
the conclusion that he was entirely surrounded by water — 
on an island, in fact. After remaining perfectly quiet for a 
long while, during which I have no doubt he was arranging 
his plans, he began running around the top of the stick, and 
throwing out great coils of web, with his hind feet. In a few 
minutes little fine strings of web were floating away in the 
slight breeze that was blowing. After a little one of these 



178 THE GUIDING STAR. 

threads touched the edge of the tub, and stuck fast, as all 
spider webs will do. 

This was just what Mr. Spider was looking for, and the 
next minute he took hold of his web, and gave it a jerk, 
as a sailor does with a rope when he wishes to see how 
strong it is or make it fast. Having satisfied himself that it 
was fast at the other end, he gathered it in till it was tight 
and straight, and then ran on it quickly to the shore ; a 
rescued castaway saved by his own ingenuity. 

Spiders are not fools, if they are ugly, and He who made 
all things has a thought, and care for all. The earth is full 
of the knowledge of God. 




THANKSGIVING. 



BY SYLVIA BROWN. 



^jppBj ING, heart of mine, the year is young, 
<5I|^ The buds are bursting on the trees, 
jwjj The swelling hopes of life are thine 
'*$• And float in song on every breeze. 

Sing, heart of mine, the summer bloom ; 

Its fragrant perfume fills the air ; 
Now life is rich, for Love and Faith 

Within, the soul their incense bear. 

Sing, heart of mine, the year is ripe. 

Full harvests bless the fruitful land ; 
Life's royal fruitage waiteth, too, 

The tender Master's garnering hand. 

Sing, heart of mine, the year is done, 
Chill winter spreads her silver vest, 

Life's fruit is with its gathered sheaves, 
Thy year is done, now wait thy rest. 

Sing, heart of mine, for God is just 
Who gives the waiting earth his care : 

The spring-time, rain, the bud and bloom, 
The cooling dew to summer air. 

Sing, heart of mine, for God is good 
Who fills the ear and bending sheaf; 

Who hides the clusters of the vine 
Beneath the golden autumn leaf. 

Sing, heart of mine ! Oh, praise his name, 
Whose loving care hath blessed our store ; 

With glad thanksgiving praise his name 
Whose care surrounds us evermore. 



The Rules of Good Health, 

AND 

HOW TO PROMOTE IT. 



I give my opinion on the Rules of Good Health, and how I 
think Children should be raised to be moral and healthy. 




PHE great question may be asked throughout the 
world, as to what is health, and we most willingly 
answer by saying, that good health is that condition 
^P of the body and mind, which enables both to per. 
fo:m their duties properly, and without pain. Some one 
part of the body, such as a finger, or limb, can become dis- 
abled or in other words taken from the body, without any 
injury to general health. For after the wounded part of the 
body becomes healed up, such persons will enjoy their 
physical health as much as any other living person. And if 
you will notice you will see that our health is in our own 
keeping, or, in other words, to a great extent it depends on 
ourselves, whether life bodily, and mentally is happy, or 
whether it turns out a wretched failure, So I urge upon 
the reader, that there is a gospel for the body, and for the 
mind of man, as well as for the moral department, of his 
nature. The same God made all these, and cares for them 
all, as Christ proved by connecting bodily and mental cares 
with the salvation of the soul ; as the whole man belongs to 
God, we are bound to take care of every part. If any one 
ask, why can't I do as I like, the answer is found in the 
fact, that we are stewards under God ; health tends to make 
us all happy, and it is God's wish that we should be happy. 
13 



182 THE GUIDING STAR. 

We have no right to bring a moment's unhappiness, on our- 
selves, by transgression against, or by neglect of his laws. 
Every living person should learn themselves, to retire at 
the proper hour for bedtime, so as to rise early next morn- 
ing, and walk out and inhale the pure fresh morning air. 
Some people expose themselves to a great extent, by too 
much hard labor, some will work both day and night, and in 
all kinds of bad weather, in order to make, and save 
money, and gain wealth, which is very good, but re_ 
member that it is just as important, and more so, to labor and 
manage to save your health ; for after you are dead, what 
good w T ill the money do you. Hard daily laboring people 
should learn themselves to retire to their beds of rest at nine 
o'clock, or not later than half past, so that they may have 
plenty of time to sleep and rest. We should eat our meals 
regular, and those of good, well cooked wholesome food, 
and light meals for supper. It is good for us to exercise our 
muscles all we can, either by labor, walking or moving 
in some form ; and let us lay aside the use of our strong 
tobacco, for about two months trial, and at the expiration of 
that time, when we find ourselves feeling so much 
better, and stronger, looking better in the face, and a lot 
of money saved, we will be so rejoiced, that we will never 
want to taste tobacco again. Let every man turn his back 
on strong drink the same v/ay. Use pure soft filtered rain .„ 
water for external as well as internal use. 



KEEP YOUR ROOMS VENTILATED. 

It matters not how cold the winter days may be. Give 
your house ventilation, especially your bed rooms where 
you sleep with the rooms all closed up so close, that the foul 
air accumulated over night has no way of escape, which 
we think would not be pleasant for good health. Leave a 



THE RULES OF GOOD HEALTH. 183 

small ventilation to your bed room, both day and night, either 
from the transom or window, so the pure, dry air can pass 
in the room, and the foul air as it accumulates over night, 
can pass out. And first when you rise every morning, open 
3'our windows, and dust out, and give ventilation to your 
bed rooms all day, until just after sunset. Leave your win- 
dow open so the sun may shine in your bed rooms some part 
of the day. Remember that corn, wheat, and plants of all kinds 
must have air, and the heat of the sun, or they can not grow, 
healthy. And just so it is with man. He must have fresh 
air, and feel the heat of the sun, which must shine upon him 
at times, or he can not live and enjoy good health. 



TO RAISE CHILDREN TO BE MORAL AND 
HEALTHY. 

To raise young children to be moral and healthy is not 
to feed them on too strong food while in their youth. 
Never allow them to drink tea or coffee. Forbid your child- 
ren making use of strong drinks of any kind. Tea and cof- 
fee are too stimulating for their nervous system ; it is weaken- 
ing to their constitution. Forbid them putting any drinks 
in their mouths, stronger than cold water, and sweet 
milk, which is made for children, all they can drink ; and 
after they pass the age of twelve, and thirteen years, with • 
out using strong drinks at the table, both the child and its 
parents will see how much better off, and how much 
better they look, by not being allowed to use strong drink. 
Such children will ever refrain from the habits of strong 
drink as long as they live — such as tea, coffee, and rum. 
The best way to raise little children to be good, to love 
their parents, and to be polite and mannerly, is to train 
them up by kind words, and to avoid whipping them as 
much as possible. 



18i THE GUIDING STAR. 

Forbid them keeping late hpurs at night. Put them early 
to bed, in order that they may get from ten to eleven hours 
sleep ; the more sleep they get, the faster and stronger they 
will grow, but you must commence with them in time. My 
opinion is, that young children will learn faster, think quicker, 
and grow much healthier, by not having their feet bound up 
in real tight shoes ; much better that they go barefooted in 
the summer season of the year, and when they do wear 
shoes, let them be loose on their feet, on account of the cir- 
culation of the blood from the feet to the brain ; and an- 
other thought is that it might be well for a child in every 
sense, that the best moral influence surrounds its early 
youth. By the time a child reaches five or seven years of 
age, it ought to have a great deal of education — both boys 
and girls. They should have some well fixed ideas about 
right and wrong in its own condition. It should first be 
taught to know that it is subject to authority, and it should 
also appreciate that the authority is justice, tempered with 
mercy. Moral and religious ideas may be impressed upon 
young minds before lessons, from books by letters and 
figures. 



SLEEP AND REST. 

Laboring people who exercise themselves at hard daily 
labor, should have their rest at night. Such persons should 
retire to bed, in time to get as much as eight hours sleep ; 
students eight and a half; children ten and eleven hours. 
And if you find it difficult to get to sleep, you should remain 
in bed next morning, a short time at entire rest ; or you 
should retire to rest sooner at night, in order to make up the 
lost sleep. Plenty of good sleep is a great addition to health, 
it helps to throw off disease. You should take a short nap 
every day in the summer season, just after eating your din- 



TEE RULES OF GOOD HEALTH. 185 

ner, remaining about twenty-five minutes asleep, if time 
will admit. 

Some laboring people will work hard all day, and then 
stay up half the night, plundering around, losing sleep and 
breaking their rest, which is injurious to any one's health. 
God has provided sleep and rest for ever person, which 
they should make use of at the proper time. 



KEEP YOUR FEET WARM AND DRY. 

To avoid colds and rheumatism, keep your feet warm and 
dry. Never take off your shoes to warm your feet, or to 
cool them. If you do you are bound to take cold. We 
find it to be a common rule for a great many women, and 
some men, who make a habit after working hard all day, 
to slip off their shoes to rest their feet at night, while setting 
around before going to bed, and also to cool or to warm 
them. Such exposure leaves persons subject to rheum- 
atism, which we know to be very hard to get rid of. They 
will remain for hours with their shoes off, until their feet 
get cold. Never take your shoes from your feet until you 
are ready for bed. The best remedy for colds and sick head- 
ache, is to bath your feet in luke warm salt water, and drink 
all the cold water you can on going to bed. 



FORBID YOUNG BOYS THE USE OF TOBACCO. 

The use of tobacco is a habit, that should be done away 
with among the young; they should especially avoid the 
habit. It gives a doubtful pleasure for a certain penalty. 
Accumulated facts go to show, that growing boys are the 
worse mentally, and physically, for the use of tobacco. It 
should be kept out of the schools as far as possible. It is 
injurious to growing boys, especially schools boys, as it de- 



186 THE GUIDING STAR. 

stroys the nervous system, and makes the boy stubborn, 
unconcerned, disobedient, idle, and reckless and unfits 
him for study. Remember that over two-thirds of the 
young boys, that are raised under the influence of strong 
tobacco, will become lovers of strong drinks, which will lead 
them to be drunkards. And if they do not reform from the 
evil habit, it will, in time, destroy both soul, and body forever. 
There is a duty involved upon both school teacher, and the 
parents of children, to see after the school boys, and forbid 
them using tobacco in any form. My advice to young men 
is to refrain from the use of tobacco ; for the use of it weak- 
ens and destroys the nervous system to a great extent, and 
more than that it is a bad habit. A person should never 
put anything in their mouth that they have to spit from. 
As soon as you put tobacco in your mouth, the effect pro- 
duced on the saliva causes the gastric juice to flow, until a 
large quantity has escaped, or as long as the action in the 
mouth continues. So the person who uses tobacco throws 
away just what nature demands we should retain with us, 
which helps to keep the body in a healthy state. 



ALCOHOL. 

Remember that alcohol is capable of damaging each 
and every organ and tissue of the human body. There is 
always danger in the path of him, whose appetite, and pas- 
sions have been, not his servants, but his masters. Hence, 
alcohol becomes a dangerous instrument even in the hands 
of the strong, and the wise; a murderous instrument in the 
hands of the foolish, and weak. If used too excessively, the 
monster evil, will degrade the character of both men and 
women, and lead them from degredation to an untimely 
grave. Scientific physicians, the world over, have been en- 
gaged for years, in the investigation of the subject, and the 



THE RULES OF GOOD HEALTH. 187 

universal verdict is, that the use of alcohol is productive of 
a vast deal of harm. In a lecture on this subject an 
article, delivered by Dr. Norman Kerr, of England, says : 
"that diseases might be broadly divided, into those that 
were, and those that were not preventable ; those arising from 
needless personal habits, were the more numerous and 
important, and their consideration was concentrated, on one 
great group of preventive diseases." It was admitted that 
intoxicating drinks were not essential to the healthy, they 
were luxuries, not necessities ; hence they could safely be 
dispensed with; so all diseases springing from the limited or 
unlimited use of intoxicants were preventable diseases. 



THE EVIL OF INTEMPERANCE. 

Above all things withdraw yourselves from the use of in- 
toxicating liquors, as a beverage, as it is injurious to the 
welfare, health, and morals of the people, and also a stumb- 
ling block to the church of God. Take notice that 
if^ a man never takes the first drink of whiskey, he 
will never become a drunkard. Let whiskey, ale, beer and 
wine stay to itself, and you will never have to suffer from 
the effects of intoxicating liquors. The injury that alcohol 
inflicts on the human system, has been set forth by the most 
competent investigators, that the worst effect is on the brain. 
Alcohol is no where to be found in any product of nature ; 
it was never itself il created by the living God." It is noth- 
ing more than an artificial concern prepared by the skill of 
man, through the desrtuctive process prepared, for the pur- 
pose of a speculation, and to be used in some respects as a 
medicine, by applying so much alcohol to some other rem- 
edy. But it goes on to show that perfect health can only be 
obtained, by total abstinence from all intoxicating drinks ; 
as they only drain the natural functions of the body. There 



188 



THE GUIDING STAR. 



are numbers of persons who suffer and die from different dis- 
eases, which are brought upon themselves, by the use of 
strong drinks. 




THEY STAYED ON THE FARM. 



FOR WHICH I THANK ISADORE ROGERS. 



W was tired that night, and it did seem as if there was 
Si everything to discourage, and nothing to cheer. Will, 
lh our oldest boy, had come from his work with a discon- 
^ tented look upon his countenance, saying, that he wished 
he was in his consin Harold's place, with nothing to do but 
stand behind a counter, and measure goods all day, having 
everything he wanted, and no work worth mentioning. And 
when Jenny asked for a new white dress, there was nothing 
that I would have enjoyed so much as to have been able to 
give it to her, for I like to see my children nicely dressed, 
as my mother. But when I told her that we could not afford 
it, she did not realize that it was as much of a privation to 
me as to her, and said : 

"Well mother, if you can not afford it, I can do nicely 
without it," after the manner of dutiful daughters in stories; 
but she went away looking as if nothing but my selfishness 
withheld it from her. 

You can never realize the situation unless I tell you ex- 
actly how it is, and I don't want you to understand that I 
am saying a word against John, for he has more real good 
and manly traits than any other man of my acquaintance ; 
but he is so easy and good-natured that he would hand out 
the last dollar in the world to indulge the children, if I said 
so, when he knew that he had a note for farming imple- 
ments coming due that very day. 

I knew exactly how much money he had — just enough to 
pay the interest on the mortgage, and not a dollar more ; 
and it was only by the strictest economy in household ex- 
penditures that he had that, for I had bought all the grocer- 



19 J THE GUIDING STAR. 

ies and necessary clothing for the children, by the sale of but- 
ter and eggs. Beside, his note for the new reaper would be 
coming due before long, and with his improvident ways, I 
knew that if I didn't keep a sharp look out there would be no 
money for that. We were what was considered a well-to-do 
farmer's family. Our credit was good anywhere, but mercy 
knows how much care and management it took to keep it so. 

When the children asked him for anything, he always an- 
swered, " Just as your mother says ;" and with all the care 
and responsibility of looking ahead thrown upon me, I was 
obliged to say no so often, they began to look upon me as 
being the cause of all their denials, when heaven knows that 
I was only trying to secure a home that was our very own, 
where they might enjoy comfort and plenty in their youth- 
ful days, and return on Christmas and Thanksgiving as long 
as they lived. 

And for this object I had toiled, economized, and denied 
myself in every possible way ; and although I could see that 
with the slow but steady progress that we were making, the 
grand object would be accomplished in a few years more, 
the fact that I received credit for nothing, but having a con- 
stant desire to economize, from my children, and a disposi- 
tion to fret about nothing (as he called it, when I tried to 
impress upon him the importance of being prepared to meet 
his payments), from my husband, made my lot seem doubly 
hard to bear. 

Jennie was fifteen years old — just the age to like pretty 
dresses with flowers and ribbons, without realizing that they 
do not grow upon bushes, from which the paternal hands 
have but to reach forth and take them ; and just after she 
went away, with discontent written upon her features, John 
came in. 

"Susan," said he, complainingly, "I do wish you would 
discard that habit of fretting about matters that will come 



THEY STAYED ON THE FARM. 191 

out all right anyway. Such a countenance is enough to give 
a man a fit of the blues. " 

Now, I am very well aware that matters never came right 
unless there was a power at work to bring them right ; and 
as for a fit of despondency, I knew that he was never troubled 
with any such malady. And for a moment, I felt as if I 
would rather he should be grasping and stingy, than to be 
so utterly reckless and improvident, that he could not even 
sympathize with my care and anxiety. Right here let me 
say, wives do not blame your husbands too severely for what 
appears to you like mere avariciousness, when there is a 
mortgage on the farm, and other expenses to meet of which 
you do not have the care and responsibility. 

I felt so discouraged, so much in need of someone to un- 
derstand and smypathize with my motives, that I was in no 
mood to reply, and beside I knew that it would be of no use, 
anyway, so I went out into the yard and left him alone. 

" I won't try any more," I said, petulantly. " One may 
wear her life away for husband and children, and instead of 
receiving credit for the one hundred things that she does for 
their comfort, she will be censured for one that they deem 
amiss." 

But a woman with five children to fit for useful and hon- 
orable lives, has a burden upon her shoulders which she can- 
not lay down whenever she feels that her efforts are unap- 
preciated. But she must be content to w r ait patiently until 
the ripening years bring their reward, no matter how 
long and weary it may seem. All this dawned upon me as 
I walked alone under the shade trees that grew about our 
dwelling, and as earnest reflection succeeded the transient 
outburst of impatience and discouragement, I set about de- 
vising some remedy for the evils which I could not ignore. 
At length, refreshed by my walk, and recovered from my 
petulant mood, I returned to the house. Jennie was looking 



192 THE GUIDING STAR. 

over her last year's lawns and ribbons, with rather a dejected 
expression of countenance, and I really felt sorry for her as I 
noticed how shabby they w r ere. 

"Jennie," said I, "I am sorry that I cannot give you the 
dress, but perhaps we can find some way for you to get it 
yourself." 

" Do you mean that I may go out to work, and earn 
money with which to buy it?" she asked, wonderingly. 

"No, I answered; "you are growing, yet, and people 
who employ help will not spare you, as your mother does, 
by doing all the heaviest work themselves, that your young 
shoulders may grow straight and strong, without being 
dwarfed and disfigured by tasks too great for a growing girl ; 
and beside, I think that there should be work on the farm, 
for all the members of a family." 

" There has always been work enough, mercy knows/' 
said Jennie, dolefully. 

" But I have been trying to think of some way in which 
you can earn money for your own expenses, and if you get 
it and expend it yourself, you will realize that you have it 
more than when you have nothing, excepting what we buy 
and bring to you. Suppose that you take the row of cur- 
rant bushes on the east side of the garden for your own, 
gather and sell the fruit yourself, and buy the dress, or any- 
thing else that you want. 

"Can I really have all the money that the currants will 
bring ? " she asked, brightening up, and putting away the 
faded dress and ribbons. 

"Yes," I replied, "and you will need even more next 
year, than this. It is only by looking ahead, and preparing 
for the future, that we may have plenty for the present; 
and if you will plant a large bed of strawberries, and culti- 
vate them yourself, you can have all they will yield. 

" May I have a bed, too ? " asked Alice, my thirteen year- 



THEY STAYED ON THE FARM. 193 

old girl, who had entered the room, and stood listening to 
the conversation. 

''Yes, if you will cultivate it yourself, and keep your 
plants free from weeds," I answered. 

M And do just what I please, with the money ? " she ques- 
tioned. 

"Yes, but I shall require you to make your purchases 
carefully, that you may receive the full value of your money/ 1 ' 
I replied. 

"Oh, you can go with me, and assist with your advice/' 
she answered, " if I can only have the money, and buy the 
dresses and other things myself." 

•'What can 1 have, mamma?" asked Nellie, who had 
reached the age of six years. 

" I will give you two nice Brahma hens, and you may 
have all the little chicks, if you feed and take care of them 
yourself." 

"We shall soon be as well off as the boys, for all Will feels 
so proud of his pigs, and George of his turkeys," and the 
child ran off, gleefully, to look up a good location for a 
couple of hen coops. The older girls went speedily to work 
at their strawberry beds, and before another day had passed 
each had a nicely prepared piece of ground, with two hun- 
dred plants. 

And Jennie manifested a new interest in those currant 
bushes, which had been somewhat neglected for a year or 
two past. She dug away the grass, and carried pailfuls of 
dirt from the chip-yard to put around the roots, for she said 
if she were going to raise fruit for the market, it should be 
of the very best quality, and the improvement was really 
surprising. 

What a new interest the girls seemed to take in every- 
thing ! They did their work in the house with unusual 
alacrity, that they might have a few moments to work with 



194 THE GUIDING STAR. 

their plants before school time, and not a weed was allowed 
to grow to the detriment of their enterprise. Jennie realized 
a greater sum than I had anticipated from the sale of the cur- 
rants. The dress was purchased, and several articles be- 
sides, but it was not until the following year that the real 
profit began. 

The girls had procured a treatise upon the culture of small 
fruits, and attended to the plants according to directions, and 
all their care and labor was amply rewarded by the large 
yield and fine quality of their berries. They had money, 
without being obliged even to ask for it, with which to pur- 
chase new school books, as well as new hats, ribbons, and 
dresses, beside supplying our own table with delicious fruit 
all through the season. 

" Mother," said Jennie, after the last of the berries had 
been gathered, "strawberries last but a short time ; would 
it not be well to have a quantity of raspberry plants set out, 
that we may gather from them when the strawberries are 
gone ? 

"It would be a good plan, certainly," I answered. 

" And I'll plant blackberries to follow the raspberries," 
said Will. 

" And I'll raise grapes to come after the blackberries," 
said George. 

" I have lots of chickens," said little Nellie, with such a 
'ook of importance that her brothers smiled. 

And each went to work to have something from which to 
supply his own private purse. 

The berries took but little more time and attention than 
the same amount of corn or potatoes, but the boys could not 
be spared from the field to pick berries, so they gave the 
girls a share to gather and market them, observing that they 
could keep even, anyway, since they had other means which 
the girls had not And with money with which to gratify 



THEY STAYED ON THE FARM. 195 

so many of their desires, each subscribed for a periodical 
adapted to his individual taste. Will took a good agricul- 
tural paper, George another from a different part of the 
country, Jennie and Alice each a magazine, and Nellie sold 
her chickens, bought a new cloak, and subscribed for a child^s 
paper. 

The fact of individual ownership gives all these an added 
value, and this class of reading is rapidly leading their youth- 
ful minds toward progress and intelligence. They are happy 
.and contented, without the least desire to leave the farm, 
where there is profitable employment for all, and a recogni- 
tion of the right of each to control at least a share of his own 
earnings, instead of being compelled to work in the ceaseless 
treadmill of the general welfare, with only the individuality 
of the father recognized, as is too apt to be the case where 
the boys are discontented and anxious to leave the farm. 

And instead of being a tax upon our resources, the child- 
ren are self-supporting, and proud of the independence which 
their industry gives them, and never were girls more rosy 
and healthy than ours. Their is no longer any necessity for 
that grinding economy which we were once obliged to prac- 
tice, and John sometimes says : 

"Don't you see, Susan, that our affairs are coming out all 
right, even though I never worried and fretted about it? " 



WHEAT AND FIELD FLOWERS. 



BY MRS. J. B. WII.COX. 



~^k^ 



S a lilly among thorns, so is my love among the 
'' daughters." And my love is a book, a rare new 



book, which meets every want of my heart. Though 
it does not, like another book lately published, bear 
the title, " Ein Wort/* the one word, " Liebe," is its soul 
and inspiration. This book is my good companion all the 
day long. It mourns with me when I am sad. It rejoices 
with me when I am glad. It reproves my faults. It in- 
spires me to good deeds. And like all our very dearest 
loves, it is choice, and reserves its gifts for a few. 

When in mournful mood I turn to my book, I find words 
so tender and tearful they seem to be but the echoes of my 
own sad heart set to sweet music, and in them, I breathe 
out my complaint: 

To you the day is fair, 
As days may be, 
My eyes are filled too bitterly with tears 
To see. 
You view a thousand graves 
And sigh at none, 
My heart is breaking at the simple thought 
Of one. 

Or sympathy comes to one in such words as these : 

There are, who for thy last, long sleep, 

Shall sleep as sweetly, nevermore. 
Shall weep because thou canst not weep, 

And grieve because thy griefs are o'er. 

Sad thrift of love ! the» loving breast 

On which thy aching head is thrown, 
Will give the weary head to rest, 

But kee}» the aching for its own. 



WHEAT' AND FiELD FLOWERS. 197 

When I am glad, I find songs like joy-bells to express my 
gladness : 

A smile into my heart has crept, 

And laughs through all my being, 
New joy into my life has leapt, 

The joy of only seeing ! 

happy glow, sun-bathed tree, 

O golden lighted river, 
A love-gift has been given to me, 
And which of you is giver? 

The words of reproof from my book, my love, seem too 
personal and sacred to be shared with others, but there are 
inspirations that it would be ungenerous to keep to one's 
self: - 

There are poems unwi-itten and songs unsung 

Sweeter than any that ever were heard, 
Poems that wait for an angel tongue ; 

Songs that but long for a Paradise bird, 
Poems that ripple through lowliest lives, 

Poems unnoted and hidden away, 
Down in the souls where the beautiful thrives, 

Sweetly as flowers in the air of the May — 
Poems, that only the angels above us, 

Looking down deep in our hearts, may behold ; 
Felt though unseen, by the beings that love us, 

Written on lives as of in letters of gold, 
Sing to my soul the sweet song that thou livest, 

Read me the poem that never was penned. 
The wonderful idyl of life that thou givest 

Fresh from thy spirit, O beautiful friend. 

And my treasure, my book, is rare : 

It hoards not, yet it rests content, 
And not unsought will give. 

For it is published for only a few friends, to whom it is 
presented by the editor and compiler. It is the tribute of 
one choice, sweet soul to another, whose beautiful and 
saintly life seems to color every page. We have among our 
Christmas books, "Fifty Perfect Poems,'' but this is,, 
through all its lines, ' 'one grand sweet song. " In the follow- 
ing inspiring words lies the secret of the two lives that are 
woven into it : 



198 THE GUIDING STAR. 

The spirit which from God is made, 

The noblest of its kind 
Asks not the help of rules that serve, 

To guide the feeble mind. 
It soars, however bold its flight, 

Right onward, safe and free, 
And all that schools and books can teach, 

In its own self can see 
What charms this soul all souls must charm ; 

What grieves it saddens all ; 
It holds the choicest of the world 

Within its subtle thrall. 

The book is copyrighted by Mrs. Alice L. Williams, a 
name that is to many who have shared in the overflowing 
bounties of her sunny nature, as that of a fairy queen, who 
can bring the most impossible things to pass. The next 
page reads : " Dedicated to my friend, Lucy Perry Noble, 
who is God's best gift to so many loving hearts." And 
throughout its four-hundred and thirty-four pages, we 
breathe the spirit of these two elect women. The editor 
speaks to us mostly through choice selections, but some- 
times, we are sure, in her own words, modestly veiled under 
the signature, '• Anon," or " From the German." These 
are some of the more direct tributes to her friend. 

TO L. P. N. 

I asked the Sun, 

Canst thou tell me what love is ? 
He answered only a smile 
Of golden light. 

I prayed the flowers, 
Oh, tell me what is love ? 
Only a fragrant sigh was wafted 
Through the night. 

Is love the soul's true life? 
Or is but the sport 
Of idle summer hours ? 1 asked 
Of Heaven above. 

In answer, God sent thee, 
Dear heart, to me ; 
And I no longer question, 
What is love. 

And again 



/ VHEA T A XD FIEL D FLO I VERS. 1 99 

My peace thou art, 

My firm, green isle without a troubled sea, 
And lying here and looking upward now, 1 
I ask, if thou art this, what God must be ? 
If thus I rest within thy goodness, how 
In goodness of the infinite degree ? 

It is impossible in this limited space to do justice to this 
book. Its "Tributes to Wives and Mothers," its "Handful 
of Letters. " and its "Service of Sorrow, " with sweet words 
"In Memoriam" that recall the very presence of loved ones 
of whom we say, 

The waiting angels bade them 
Go up higher, 

make it a store house of treasures for many hearts. And 
those who have long felt, that the dear friend to whom it is 
dedicated walked among' us an uncrowned queen, give 
thanks and blessings to her who has woven this chaplet of 
laurels for her brow. It is a beautiful thing when, as in the 
" In Memoriam " of Tennyson, the loving tribute of a friend 
gives a new life to one who has passed into the Silent I^and. 
It is a more beautiful thinsr when the " best srift of God, im- 
mortal love," finds expression in singing the praises of a liv- 
ing friend, and iliumines her life with a radiance that can not 
be hidden from the eyes of others, making it a joy, and an 
inspiration to many who are tempted to believe that life is 
not worth living. 

The wish has been very widely expressed that another 
edition of " Wheat and Field Flowers " might be published 
for general sale, and we feel confident that such a universal 
wish will not be disappointed. 



A WORKER'S SONG. 



\T is not for me to order, 

The work that I have to do ; 
My eyes must follow the Master, 
*^ And ever His will pursue. 
And therefore I wait and listen, 

For as soon as I hear His voice, 
Forward I press with gladness, 
And even in toil rejoice. 

Sometimes I can hear Him calling, 
To tasks that are great and high ; 

I should often fear to attempt them, 
But that He is standing by ; 

Sometimes unto service lowly, 
That even a child might do, 

Comes the Master's kindly summons, 

And hearing I hasten through. 

» 

Oh ! none can be sad or gloomy 

In the hours they work for Him, 
For He smileth aye upon us, 

Let the day be bright or dim. 
And we cheer our hearts with singing, 

While busy at our tasks ; 
It is but faithful service 

That the gracious Master asks. 

Sometimes I am growing weary, 
And by troublous cares opprest, 

And the Master, in His pity, 
Dismisses me to rest. 



A WORKER'S SONG 201 

And, again, when I have not earned it. 

In His kindly, great regard, 
He loads me, not with wages, 

But munificent reward. 

Oh ! who that once has served Him 

Will any other serve ? 
Oh ! who that ever has seen Him 

Will from His fealty swerve. 
Come all, and be His servants, 

For He your friend will be, 
All gracious and forgiving, still, 

As He has been to me. 




THE RULES AND DUTIES OF A MISSIONARY. 



NE of the highest duties of a missionary is, to first 
¥M work to spread the gospel of Christ throughout the 
\\J3JJ land, that it may be preached unto every living 
creature. Foreign mission work is conducted by 
giving and soliciting funds, to send ministers and other 
teachers, as missionaries, with Bibles to the foreign coun- 
tries, that they may preach and teach the gospel of Christ to 
the different nations, such as Africa, Asia, China, and India, 
that they may be brought from darkness unto the light of 
Christian civilization. The missionary shall also give and 
solicit funds to send to the above named countries for the 
purpose of erecting church buildings for public worship and 
organizing Sabbath-schools. The home work for the mis- 
sionary is to work in aid of the gospel of Christ being 
preached to the poor throughout the United States of 
America. To make their home work a success, they 
should first unite themselves together in clubs, and organize 
in the different churches, what should be known as the 
Womens' Home and Foreign Missionary Society. But 
such societies can be organized independent, without regard 
to church, creed, or denomination, and each member of 
said society is duty bound to pay her initiation fee on 
entering as full members, and also to pay weekly or 
monthly dues, to the amount of whatever may be required 
by the constitution of the society, and it is also the duty of 
each individual member to solicit funds from the public, for 
the purpose of helping to build a missionary treasury, and 
all funds of said treasury are to be contributed to aid the 



SABBA TH- SCHO OLS. 20 S 

destitute, sick, and afflicted persons who are actually 
known to be unable to help themselves, those persons 
residing in the same county, city, or village, where said 
missionary society may be located. The above named 
persons we consider the home circle sufferers, who are 
entitled to receive the first benefits of said society ; after 
which, it shall be the duty of the society to draw money 
from the same treasury, which shall be contributed to the 
aid of the destitute and needy anywhere throughout the 
United States, wherever appeals are made for help, and the 
society feels itself able to respond, which will be to send 
donations, such as money or clothing, to relieve the desti- 
tute and suffering of our country. The societies will also 
purchase books, Bibles, and testaments, to aid and assist 
poor Sabbath-schools, and to organize new ones wherever 
they are needed in all parts of this country, and to assist 
traveling missionaries in going forth proclaiming the gospel 
of Christ to the poor. They will cheerfully contribute to 
aid in building up disabled churches, when applications are 
made to them for help. 



SABBATH-SCHOOLS. 

The missionary societies that are organized in the dif- 
ferent Sabbath-schools, are for the purpose of raising funds 
to be expended for the support of both the home and 
foreign missionary cause. It is the duty of all teachers and 
scholars of the various Sabbath-schools to canvass their 
own city, village or neighborhood, where such schools are 
located, and bring in the children from the highways and 
hedges who never attend any school and are violating the 
Sabbath from time to time, and are growing up in their 
sins without ever being taught to know there is a God 



204 CONCLUSION. 

whom they must serve. Teachers and scholars who go out 
as missionaries and find these poor, forgotten children, 
should, before removing them, first go and consult their 
parents or guardians, if they have such, and after receiving 
their consent, the canvasser should oblige such children to 
attend some good Sabbath-school, by bringing them 
forward and making them welcome in the several classes, 
that these children may learn the lessons which tell them 
what God will have them to dp, that they may become fol- 
lowers of Christ our Lord. 



THE CLOSING SUBJECT. 
In conclusion, I take great pleasure to inform the public 
at large, that for the sake of suffering humanity, I hereby 
resolve to donate to the missionary cause, from two and a 
half to five cents out of every dollar that I may realize 
from the sale of my book, which shall be deposited in the 
treasury, to be used for the relief of the destitute and suf- 
fering people of our county, at home and abroad. These 
donations will be made according as I prosper in making 
sales of the book. 

Yours, SAM'L EASON. 








021 897 383 8 



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